


For You Always

by RyanAckart



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Character Death, Custom Shepard (Mass Effect), Destroy Ending, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Mentioned suicide, Past Suicide Attempt, Post-War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21913420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyanAckart/pseuds/RyanAckart
Summary: An Alliance crew is killed, a spectre is called. A former spectre joins him. Shepard mourns on the ten year anniversary of his best friend's death but when the Council needs Kaidan, Cal follows, and they begin to unravel a mystery years in the making. The reapers may be dead but that doesn't mean the galaxy is safe. Ryan may be gone but that doesn't mean any of that pain has faded
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Male Shepard & Original Male Character
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I first wrote this prologue in 2018 and have been sitting on this idea for about two years now. I've been working on it steadily for months and I'm very excited to finally feel ready to share it. It means a lot to me for a variety of reasons and I hope you get something out of it too
> 
> For anyone who may not know, the '&' in the relationship section is meant to denote platonic relationships. Feel free to follow me at **korkro.tumblr.com** and **shrimpcolors.twitter.com**

A radio plays ‘Top 1000 Hits From This Year: 2174 Edition.’ They argue about the music every day, their team never agrees on what station to listen to while digging. It’s a lonely planet they’re on, right at the edge of an uncharted star cluster. Most of them still aren’t quite sure _how_ their sponsors received information about this site.

The director sits in a tent, reading over yesterday’s notes. Hernandez says scans hint at tunnels deep beneath the dusty surface. Now they’re searching for the the entrance. Carefully. If they dig too quickly or in the wrong spot, they might cause a cave in. Heng suspects extinct lava tubes for now but everything underground seems unnaturally uniform.

Another strange thing is that there are no signs this area’s harbored life. With an oxygen atmosphere, it must have at some point, but nobody knows this planet’s history. Citadel records show it was discovered less than a decade ago by satellite. No one has bothered exploring it in depth, which is questionable, but if there’s a network of tunnels...

This dig has finally turned interesting. No one has any clue what they’ll find.

The director looks up when another man enters the tent--their xenobiologist and site manager. He sits back in his chair.

“You’re still looking over those notes?”

“Usually I’d have time to read them over after dinner but _someone_ kept me pretty distracted, Adam.”

Adam grins and leans down to kiss the director, his husband. “You weren’t complaining last night, _Eli_.”

Elijah puts his datapad down and grabs Adam by the hips. They’re making out when a woman walks in. She’s unfazed as she knocks on the desk. “Natalia has new scans. She thinks we’re getting closer to unearthing the entrance.”

Elijah’s eyes widen and he stands immediately, almost knocking Adam right over in his haste. “Sorry, gotta go talk to her.” He rushes out of the tent, leaving Adam and Heng inside.

“What were you up to?” she asks. “Seducing the director to get out of work?”

He laughs as he follows her out. “Just trying to have a little fun in this dust bowl.”

“This is definitely our most boring site. But not for long hopefully.”

“I just hope these tunnels are from an undiscovered ancient race and not some sort of thresher maw relative.”

~~~~~

A group of five stands around a black metal door in the ground. It’s taken time but they’ve finally found the entrance. Taylor, archaeologist and Adam’s best friend for over two decades, scans the door with their omni-tool.

“Hm. It’s...not made of any known materials.” It’s such a deep black color, they could almost mistake it for a square hole in the ground.

“That can’t be right,” Natalia says, getting her own out. She’s hacked and modified her omni-tool more than anyone else here is capable of. “Yours is such an old model and...huh. You are right. You still have an old model though.”

They exchange glances. The rest of their diggers are taking a break after working all morning. This system’s star beams over them, just like always. But today has been the only _hot_ day and everyone feels it.

“Shall we explore?” Heng asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Adam urges.

Natalia summons her VI to provide light and camera footage.

A handle is carved out of the metal. Taylor kneels down and carefully tries to open it. “Fuck, this is heavier than I expected. I need help.”

It takes Taylor, Elijah, and Heng to pull it open. There’s a stone ladder leading into the darkness.

“Wafer, go down into the tunnel please,” Natalia orders.

They watch the VI disappear without any fear or hesitation. Natalia's omni-tool shows the group what he sees. Wafer reaches the bottom and they see a single corridor leading in a single direction. It’s spacious, not cramped. Just as the VI begins moving through, Natalia’s screen flickers then dies, startling everyone.

“It seems my camera is non-functioning!” Wafer echoes.

“Time to take a look ourselves then,” Adam says. He looks at his husband and Eli nods, that’s enough to get him moving.

It’s too far to jump so he begins the descent. The others scramble to follow, Wafer waits for them all to touch ground before continuing. Five omni-tools open to record their journey while Wafer still provides light.

No other doors or hallways break off the main path. The ceiling is plain and smooth but the walls have patterns carved into them. When Taylor runs ahead, everyone’s instinct is to hold them back.

“Look at these paintings!” they exclaim.

They’re roughly colored drawings, though no one’s seen any substance on this planet that could be turned into different hues of paint.

“More proof that some intelligent race resided here in the past. This is big. Whoever sent us this tip was right!”

“I still don’t understand why they didn’t come themselves,” Heng mutters.

“They sold the location of this site to our sponsors,” Elijah sighs. This isn’t the first time they’ve had this discussion. “It was a gamble they didn’t want to take, but it’s about to pay off for us.”

“But how did they know in the first place? Something’s still off about the situation.”

“Can we talk about it when we’re not balls deep in a dark tunnel?” Natalia huffs. “Wafer, can you slow down?”

But Wafer doesn’t. Instead he speeds up, flickers, and goes out completely.

Five lights flash on.

“Wafer? Wafer?”

Wafer doesn’t respond.

“M-maybe there's some weird tech in here that’s interfering,” Taylor mumbles, noticeably less excited now. They finish taking pictures of the paintings--a red circle with lighter red around it. A star maybe? Black shadowy things surround it. There’s water in another drawing, perhaps an ocean. More black at the bottom and a myriad of other things.

Elijah takes the lead now, maybe feeling responsible as the director of this dig. They walk for another couple minutes before the hall opens up into a giant room. The ceiling is tall and suddenly they wonder if that hallway was actually on a decline that took them deeper underground--how else could these high ceilings exist without poking through the surface? But it didn’t feel like they were walking downhill.

Everyone jumps and curses when lights suddenly switch on. They don’t look like any sort of normal lamp or light bulb, just balls of light along the walls. The room is indeed larger than they expected, more elaborate wall carvings span from floor to ceiling. Stone seating stretches out in front of a platform. A podium stands directly in the middle.

Before they can explore further, their omni-tools flicker like Wafer did and shut off. Nobody, not even Natalia, can get the orange devices to reappear.

“Taylor’s right, something has to be emitting a signal,” Adam rationalizes.

They move towards the platform and climb on, slowly circling the podium.

“A...stone? Julia?” Elijah says. Everyone’s gaze turns to Heng.

“Can't scan it obviously but it looks like, hm, I’d say carnelian. It’s a variety of quartz, which is abundant on this planet.”

It’s red in color and a little bigger than two human fists put together. There are no markings around it, nothing explaining what exactly it’s for or why--if--it’s important.

They discuss potential ideas then realize Adam has been quiet. He simply stares at the stone, not blinking and not reacting.

“Uh, Adam?” Eli says carefully, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? Come on, you’re scaring me. _Adam._ ”

Adam remains still as a statue.

“Enough of this place, we need to get him-”

Elijah doesn’t finish his sentence because at that moment, Adam’s hand shoots forward and lands right on top of the stone.

A red light flashes around them and then everything goes black.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like to learn more about Cal's life (and his friendship with Ryan), that collection of short fics is titled _**Not Time to Go Yet**_ and can be found [right here.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14632230/chapters/33818031) The final chapter is the trip he and Kaidan took that's referenced here

The last ten years seem like a long time, but the ten years Cal shared with Ryan always feel painfully short. Nearly three years since the end of the Reaper War, almost seven years since he and Kaidan first started dating--time keeps ticking by and his final moments with Ryan are fading farther and farther away. The realization that after today the time Ryan’s been dead will be longer than the time they were together is a painful one and Shepard’s not sure why. Tomorrow, Ryan will still be as gone as he has been. Nothing will still be able to bring him back, nothing will still be able to repair the hurt Cal will always feel from losing his closest friend.

Today is November 14, 2189 and it is the ten year anniversary of Ryan’s death. Cal always hates the Alliance a little more this day and this time is no different. It was their stupid mission that got him killed, it was their fault he was in the position to get flanked by multiple enemies. It’s their fault they didn’t search harder to find his body. It’s their fault...

Officially retiring from the Alliance and from the Spectres was the right decision for him. And this time it’s permanent. When he returned from his two year break after Torfan, he was lost and desperate. Those were the same feelings that led him to join in the first place. But things are different now. He’s not seventeen and scared of the Reds’ retaliation, he’s not twenty-six and scared he’ll try to kill himself again after his best friend’s death.

The reapers are gone, their terror ended. His recovery has been rough but with Kaidan by his side, they’ve pushed through it. Somehow. Sometimes it’s still difficult but he’s mostly better now he guesses. Kaidan’s still enlisted, currently the _only_ human spectre. That’s the correct choice for him but Cal has no reason to go back ever. He likes the beginnings of his new career.

His omni-tool beeps with a message and interrupts his thoughts. He waits a moment before tearing his eyes from the ocean. He and Kaidan came to Rosarito. The coordinates tattooed on his and Ryan’s hips are of the beach they’re currently sitting on. The message is from Ryan’s dad, Everett, confirming what time they’re meeting up tonight. It’s only supposed to be him and Kaidan, Ryan’s parents, and the twins--Ryan’s other two closest friends. Ryan had a lot of friends and an extensive family, but Cal can’t stomach the thought of being around large groups of people. Not today. Not when it’s been ten years. He hopes Ryan understands.

The crashing waves turn into a gentle lull and Cal pretends that’s Ryan telling him he does understand. How would the Reaper War have looked with Ryan alive? Ryan would’ve been the spectre, Ryan would’ve been the Shepard who saved the galaxy. What would Ryan have chosen? Would he have contemplated synthesis like Cal, walked up to that beam, felt the warmth radiating from it? Cal wonders if he would’ve taken that final step into it or if he’d get scared like Cal and back away and choose to destroy every bit of synthetic life instead.

It was the wrong choice.

Cal knows he is selfish. He killed off entire synthetic races because he was afraid to die. He’ll carry that guilt with him for the rest of his life.

“We should probably get going.”

Kaidan looks at him. “Are you sure?”

He nods. “I want to take a shuttle to Mexicali before we meet up with the others.”

His hometown. The birth of his and Ryan’s friendship. Mexicali was hit hard during the war, though not as hard as Mexico City. But many people still died. He wonders if the leaders of the Reds died too. If they did, he hopes it was brutal.

But it was also rebuilt quickly, three years later and Shepard can barely tell the difference. But it does feel different. The entire galaxy feels different, an entire galaxy is traumatized. Or maybe Cal’s the only one who’s still damaged and he just can’t tell anymore. A hand is suddenly in front of him and for the briefest moment, he thinks it’s Ryan. But then reality comes crashing in like the water to shore. He lets Kaidan help him up even though his bad leg isn’t hurting much today.

“There’s one place I didn’t take you back in July. We’re not going today but maybe tomorrow...” That trip was Cal’s first time returning to Mexico since his early twenties and it was to show Kaidan where he grew up. It was an emotional trip but Kaidan was there for him through it all. “It’s this old canyon Ryan and I used to hike all the time. When I was around thirteen, fourteen, it was a popular spot for some of the Reds kids to get drunk but then we almost got arrested and we just moved to the park. You know the one.”

“Yeah, I remember the fountain.”

“I didn’t take you because...because...”

Kaidan puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I felt like I was betraying him.” Tears gather in his eyes. “Which is stupid, because July was all about showing you everything from our life together. This beach was our favorite spot, this is the place I have tattooed onto my skin--not Guadalupe and yet...”

“It’s okay to have memories or a location that belongs just to you two. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry. Showing you these things isn’t a betrayal. I love you and I wanted to bring you here.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, please. Grief can be a very complicated thing, we both know that well.”

He nods. “I guess it’s just that you’re the first person I’ve ever brought here after he died. I just needed one last thing to hold on to.” Cal makes a sound. “That makes it sound like, like I was forced to bring you here or something and that’s not the case at all. I need you to know that.”

“I do know that,” Kaidan assures. “And if you still want to hold on to that canyon, we don’t have to go.”

“I want us to go there, I’m ready. He’d want us to go together too, I know that. He’d love you, Kaidan.”

“I know I’d love him too.”

They leave the beach to head to the nearby shuttle station. Last month, they went to Canada to visit Kaidan’s mom and family. October marked three years since his dad went missing. The war is over but it will always have its tendrils around the galaxy for the rest of everyone’s lives.

Cal tries to flip that same notion into something positive. His time with Ryan may be over, but he’ll still be by Cal’s side for the rest of his life.

~~~~~

They’re home, back to their apartment on the Citadel after almost two weeks on Earth. Cal did take Kaidan to the canyon--showing him the hot springs, the store that still has the open mic night Ryan would make him participate in, and the various waterfalls. Cal couldn’t make it to the last ones with his leg but they took the shuttle service and he got to show Kaidan everything he wanted to.

When it was time to leave Mexico, they decided to take an impromptu trip to Canada to visit Kaidan’s mom. His aunt was still at the orchard and Kaidan’s (favorite) cousin came by too. But now they’re home and Shepard is glad. His mind needs some rest, the past month has been especially taxing.

He’s on the couch the next day, his suitcase still not unpacked, and on the phone with Wrex. Wrex and Bakara are very busy krogans these days but they still remembered to message him last week and ask how he was doing. They were there for him as much as they could be during his recovery. Now Shepard’s telling him about his trip and Wrex is telling him how he defeated a thresher maw with his bare hands.

“Just tossed your gun down and choked it to death, yeah?” Cal laughs. “Or did you ride it around like a horse first? Cowboy Wrex!”

“Pfft, you know all about riding.”

“And you know how good I am at it!”

The door to the apartment opens and he watches Kaidan walk in carrying a bunch of groceries. “Alright, Kay’s back so I’m gonna get going. Talk to you later, cowboy.”

“Heh, later.”

“Who was that?” Kaidan asks as Cal helps with the bags.

“Wrex called, he was asking about Mexico.”

Kaidan’s omni-tool beeps with a very distinct sound and Shepard grimaces. They both know who that message is from.

“I’ll put the rest of this stuff away while you take care of that.”

Kaidan sits at the table as he reads his email. “The Council has a mission they _really_ want me to take. An Alliance crew was murdered.”

Cal’s face scrunches. “Any details?”

“No, they want me to call. I’m gonna take this in the other room.”

“Once I’m done, I’ll join.”

He nods and then he’s off into the spare bedroom where their computer is set up. Why is the Council and not the Alliance contacting Kaidan? Do they suspect it’s an inside job? Shepard doesn’t want to be there during the initial call because he doesn’t want them to think he’s joining the mission, or that he’s the one leading. Cal hates that people tend to automatically defer to him despite how fucking capable Kaidan is.

He stands at the door a moment, trying to listen, but the voices are muffled. This isn’t what he wanted so soon after they got home but Kaidan will most likely take this mission. But he knows he needs to get used to this, this is their lives now. Kaidan is a soldier and a spectre, Cal chooses not to be anymore.

He enters the room and is surprised to see the entire Council. With the addition of the volus--and Udina’s replacement--that makes five Councilors. Often times, their various assistants handle matters. It must be extremely serious if everyone is here.

“Ah, Shepard. Will you be joining Alenko?”

He puts up a hand. “No, I’m just curious about the details. An Alliance crew was murdered?”

“Yes. On Janus, an Alliance military planet.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Me either,” Kaidan says. “But apparently the Alliance has used it for years. The crew was a science team.”

“What were they doing there?”

“Cartography. Testing out new equipment,” Irissa explains. “As we were explaining to Alenko, we are...unsure what exactly killed them. We’re sending the footage the team’s equipment captured. We have been unable to identify this race.”

The couple looks at each other. “That’s why the Council’s involved then,” Kaidan says.

“Correct. This matter concerns the entire galaxy. Much of it has recovered but there’s still a long way to go and we cannot afford another threat like before.”

“Of course. What else should we know?”

They’re sent the planet’s coordinates, notes about it, and the footage. With what the Council said in mind, they watch the recording. The campsite looks normal but suddenly someone’s yelling and some sort of _things_ appear. ‘Monster’ is the only word that comes to mind. They yell and screech in a language their translators can’t understand and then the screen flashes with red--first with something akin to biotics, then blood as a person is mauled to death. More red, the equipment is attacked, the footage ends. Neither man knows what to make of it.

“I’m gonna leave tomorrow,” Kaidan tells him. “I have no idea what any of this means.”

“That makes two of us. Everything we’ve fought, I’ve seen nothing quite like that. And red biotics? Were those biotics?”

“Looked like it. That science team never stood a chance...”

“It’s weird that we’ve never heard of that planet.”

“The Alliance probably has a lot of locations it keeps on a need-to-know basis. I’ll check the spectre database for more information on it. Are...you coming?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see tomorrow I guess.”

Kaidan logs in with his spectre credentials as Shepard grabs a couple chairs. It takes longer than it should to pull files on Janus.

“A garden world with...no garden,” Cal reads. “No water. No life? That can’t be right.”

“Maybe an accident happened recently. Or the reapers did something. Alliance military planet, but no date for when that became official. But it was first discovered in ‘66. Oh...”

“Oh?”

“There was something called the ‘Dig Incident’ in ‘74. ‘Not to be released to the public.’ You think this would be at the top.”

“The Alliance probably doesn’t want something called an incident to get out.”

“But this is only accessible to the Council and other spectres.”

“Doubt they trust spectres from other races though. The Council wouldn’t let this be erased completely so they just tried to bury it instead.”

Kaidan’s eyes scan the screen. “It wasn’t an Alliance mission. A team of archaeologists were at a dig site when they found a ‘mysterious artifact’ underground.” They both stare at each other. “The artifact had...adverse effects. But it doesn’t specify what those effects were.”

“How many people? Are they still alive?”

“Uhhh, yes, most of them. Only one is listed as deceased--the man who activated the artifact killed himself a year later. Huh. Looks like he was married to one of the others. It...must’ve been bad then,” he finishes quietly.

Cal frowns. “That’s relatable. Uh, sad I mean.”

Kaidan touches his hand and squeezes it. “What do you think? I’m wondering if it’s a leviathan orb. These notes haven’t been updated since ‘75, when they still had no knowledge of them.”

“Possibly. Would help if we actually knew what the damn thing did. What an awfully big coincidence that dig thing happened and now this crew was slaughtered by unknown aliens. Obviously Janus is bad fucking luck. Why are these notes so sparse?”

“Two spectres never told anything. Think it’s just us?”

“Feels like it all the time. Do the notes say where the artifact is now?”

“The Alliance took possession of it. No facility it’s kept at, no names of the officials in charge, no anything. Oh, but it does give the general location where the archaeologists found the underground entrance.”

“Entrance to what exactly?”

“Some tunnels.”

“What are the coordinates?”

“Doesn’t say. Look.” It’s a map model with a highlighted area. But it’s as he says, no exact coordinates. Kaidan downloads it onto his omni-tool.

“Can we ever just get a mission that’s not shady as fuck?”

“That’s why they call in the big guns. Why would the Alliance allow their people to come to a place like this?”

“Maybe they thought it was safe with the artifact gone. Where was the crew’s campsite?”

Kaidan checks the files the Council sent. “It’s within the Dig Incident’s boundaries.”

“Huh. Coincidence or...”

“Nothing’s ever just a coincidence in our line of work. Well, your old line of work.”

“True. Can you look this up in old news articles? Maybe something got leaked anyways.” He sits back as Kaidan searches.

“There isn’t a single thing mentioning it.”

Shepard sighs. “Course not.”

Kaidan moves to stand up. “I’ll arrange transportation to Janus tonight and leave in the morning. It’s far so it’ll take a little time to get there. I’m going to pack, you should too just in case.”

He shrugs and follows him out of the room. “I’ll pack in the morning.”

“That means getting up extra early.”

“I’ll pack now just in case,” Cal grumbles. He doesn’t feel good about this mission, too much secrecy and general strangeness involving that planet. As capable as Kaidan is and as much as he knows he can handle anything that comes his way, Cal’s anxiety is only going to spike while they’re apart. Kaidan is the spectre, he will defer to Kaidan’s command without issue, but whatever they uncover on Janus and whatever threat these aliens pose, they’ll at least face it together.


	3. Chapter 1.5

This place is just as sandy and plain as he remembers. It could be the backdrop to any continent on Earth or any planet in the galaxy. But it’s not some random location tucked away in a corner, it’s a place full of painful memories that he wishes he could forget. But he’ll never forget for as long as he lives. How could he when the person he loves more than anything is...is...

He’s lost track of the time, of all the years that have passed by. It’s been so long and he still has no real answers to what happened. All he knows is that nothing will ever be the same as it was and that he’ll always resent the month of November until the day he dies.


	4. Chapter 2

They won’t land on Janus until tonight--well, it’ll be daylight on Janus. But it’ll be ‘tonight’ in Mexico. Today’s another heavy day for Cal but not because of the mission, even though he knows that’s what _should_ be on his mind. Today marks ten years since he tried to kill himself. It was the second week without Ryan, after the memorials and after most people went home. Somehow it was worse than the initial news, like it was finally sinking in that it was real and Ryan was never coming home to their apartment ever again.

If not for Ryan’s parents finding him, he’d probably be dead. He’s told Kaidan about it, showed Kaidan the scars before Cerberus erased them, told him about checking himself into a mental health facility afterwards. He stayed until after New Year’s. But he’s never mentioned the exact date. ‘I was too out of it, I don’t remember,’ but that’s always been a lie.

He lies in his shared quarters, Kaidan’s probably being professional and doing work or getting to know the crew. Shepard hasn’t really bothered. He briefly looked around, knows there’s a vorcha onboard. He wonders how much fear and discrimination he faces on a daily basis, or if the crew welcomes him into their fold now. Normally he’d find fun people and talk to them, but not today. Just...not today.

The door opens, Kaidan walks in to find Cal on the bed. “You okay?”

He shrugs a shoulder. “Anything interesting out there?”

“Just talking to the crew a bit. Depending where this mission takes us, they might be with us a while.”

“Yeah,” he sighs. “Have you talked to that vorcha?”

“I have. His name is Shell.”

“Shell? Like seashell?”

“Mhm. Well, it doesn’t mean seashell in his language. He’s good friends with Utok--the krogan. They met on Heshtok during the war.”

“I remember Wrex saying he sent a few people to help the vorcha. I should probably go around and do more than just vaguely say hello but I just...do not want to.”

“There’s probably going to be time for that anyways.”

“I hope not but you’re most likely correct.” He sits up. “I didn’t come just to bitch this whole time. Today’s just been a lot.”

“This last month really.”

He nods. He’s not exactly sure what time it is now but he estimates this was about the time Ryan’s parents found him. Not like he was awake for it though.

“You wanna talk about it?” Kaidan asks quietly.

Cal shakes his head.

Kaidan wraps an arm around him. “Okay. It’s okay,” he murmurs into his hair.

“Fighting the reapers wasn’t nearly as hard as losing them was.”

“No, it definitely wasn’t.”

~~~~~

The Luminosity touches the dusty surface of Janus. Cal stands on the bridge with pilot and copilot, Cassian and Shell. The Alliance has a temporary camp set up and someone is supposed to drive them to the actual scene.

“This is incredibly unremarkable,” Cal mutters.

“Apparently the entire planet looks like,” Cassian says. “A little different from the jungles in Palaven.”

“Reminds me of Heshtok.” Shell stands. “Are we all allowed in the camp?”

But Shepard knows what he means when he says ‘we.’ “Yes. Kay and I will personally make sure of it.”

He meets up with Kaidan at the door before they exit. A handful of this new crew follows, no doubt eager to walk on solid ground for a bit. “Don’t wander too far from the ship or station,” Shepard orders, momentarily forgetting he doesn’t want to give orders.

“We got an unknown enemy out there,” Kaidan continues. “They may still be hiding, we can’t be sure. The ship is safe, this camp is secure as well.”

The guards watch them pass and enter the main trailer. Kaidan approaches the desk first.

“Spectre Alenko!” the person exclaims. “S-Spectre Shepard as well.”

Cal almost corrects them to say he’s not a spectre anymore.

“We’re here to see the scene of the crime. And this is our crew.”

Their eyes dart behind the couple. “Oh...of course. They’re free to roam the grounds as they please, but General Abbett has asked that no one leave the proximity.”

“They brought in a general, huh?” Cal asks.

“Yes. The Alliance doesn’t want to take any chances right now. I’ll inform him of your arrival, he wanted to drive you to the site himself.”

Kaidan turns to the crew. “I’ll contact you when we’re done.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Cal calls after them.

Kaidan gives him a look.

“Don’t do anything I _would_ do.”

They wait just a minute before a man in an elaborate Alliance uniform walks in. He looks entirely uncomfortable on this planet, or maybe Cal is just projecting.

“Alenko, Shepard. An honor to meet you. I’m General Abbett.” He shakes each of their hands.

“Good to meet you as well,” Kaidan greets. “Always wish it could be under better circumstances. How far out is the site?”

“It’ll be just a minutes by car. If you’ll follow me outside. We have soldiers patrolling at all hours. Our team was caught completely off guard, we don’t want any sort of repeats. But so far, it’s been boring. In this case, that’s a very good thing.”

Shepard slides into the backseat as Abbett and Kaidan go up front.

“Nobody has any idea what these creatures are. Few people have seen the footage because nobody want to cause a panic,” the general explains.

“Are you the only one here who has?” Kaidan asks.

“No, my two medical examiners have seen it. Nine dead by unknown aliens. We don’t know where they could’ve gone but scouts haven’t found anything.”

Cal opens his omni-tool to look at the map again. They’re currently driving towards the Dig Incident’s general area. Why was this Alliance team camped so close? Did they know about the Dig? Was it truly a coincidence? “Have you ever heard about something called the Dig Incident?”

“Hm, can’t say that I have. Another problem on this planet?”

“Yeah, years ago.”

“The Alliance probably kept it under wraps for similar reasons to this--so people don’t worry. Are they related?”

“I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point but it happened fifteen years ago.”

They’ve crossed the boundary and even though it’s an invisible line, Cal still feels the difference. He’s on edge as they exit the car. The only people around are Alliance but he has his biotics ready regardless. The campsite’s surroundings are blocked off but at the entrance is a console Abbett leads them to.

“Each body’s location is flagged on the ground inside and none of the equipment has been tampered with. If you go on the console and download the footage, you can scan each marker and it’ll show you the body as we found it along with our notes.”

“Who else has access to this footage?” Cal asks.

“It’s been sent out of course but on this planet, just me and the examiners I mentioned. No one else is cleared.”

They examine each marker and all nine bodies. Kaidan asks Abbett questions as they investigate the campsite but so little is known right now. Kaidan brings his VI out to scout the surrounding area.

“This wasn’t efficient work,” Kaidan murmurs. “They just tore through here like a hurricane.”

Shepard plays the Council’s video again and pauses it on the clearest view of the aliens. It’s poised to throw its biotics.

“You two have never seen anything like these things?” Abbett’s voice is noticeably quieter than it has been.

“Never,” Cal confirms. He looks at Kaidan. “ A relative of the collectors is a possibility. But we need to investigate more.”

Kaidan gestures towards one of the smaller cars the guards must use. “Can we borrow one of those? We’d like to explore more of the planet.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll leave you to your investigation. I’ll be back at the main camp if you have anymore questions.”

Once they’re alone, they search the site one more time before walking towards the parked cars. The guards give the two spectres space. Cal plays the footage again.

“Look. Here.” He zooms in. “You see this alien?”

“It’s going off in a different direction.”

“None of the scientists were over there. Unless it tossed one of them, which is possible.”

“That’s where we’ll drive first. _I’ll_ drive.”

“If I drive, it’ll be just like our dates on the Mako.”

“ _Dates,_ you say.”

Shepard grins. “Can you figure out which direction this is exactly? Or should we call Zippy?”

“I can, hold on.” They get in the small vehicle and Kaidan types on his omni-tool. The map on the dashboard appears. “Do you believe it was cartography?” He turns the scanners on. It should be easy to detect anything ‘abnormal’ on a planet like this.

“Do you?”

“No.”

“Me either.”

“Would they really lie to two spectres? And not just any spectre but _the_ Commander Shepard?”

“Depends who’s hiding what. I trust none of these hoes.”

“Unless they just didn’t think it pertained to the mission.”

“Not their call to make. Or maybe they really were testing mapping equipment. I dunno, sounds boring.”

“That’s why you’re not a cartographer.”

They keep going, until the camp’s mostly out of sight behind them. They're near the other side of the Dig Incident’s boundary.

“If we find nothing here, then what?”

Kaidan says it aloud but Cal can tell by the sound that he’s talking to himself. He’s not sure where they go from here either. But the feeling of dread this morning still hasn’t disappeared completely. Kaidan turns a bit and Shepard’s again reminded of their adventures in the mako.

“I wish we knew what this entrance looked like,” Cal mutters.

“We’ve worked with less information.”

“Oh, hey, I see Zippy. He’s fast.”

“Isn’t that why you named him Zippy?”

“Zippy was the name of this...not drug per se that I used to do as a teenager. Recreationally.”

“Charming.”

“Do you think Abbett was lying about not knowing what the Dig was?”

“His confusion seemed genuine to me.”

“Yeah. Hey, is that...stop. You see that weird hole in the ground?”

“It’s very square.”

Kaidan drives over and calls Zippy over as well. As they get closer, they realize it’s not a hole but a door--and it’s wide open. They rush out of the car, biotics ready. Is this where the monsters emerged from or where they returned to hide? 

“This door is so black...” Kaidan scans it with his omni-tool. “It...it’s saying the door’s made of unknown material.”

“What? How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know.”

They exchange glances then stare at the open door again. This system’s star beams over them and they’re sweating in their armor. Something flitting off to the side startles them both.

“Zippy,” Kaidan whispers. Then louder, “Zippy, can you go down into that hole?”

“Can do!”

Zippy sounds entirely too cheery for the task at hand. His camera captures the stone ladder leading into the mysterious depths of this planet. Who carved it? Where does it lead? Did this landscape look vastly different from the barren wasteland it currently is when it was built?

On Kaidan’s omni-tool, they watch Zippy reach the bottom of a single corridor. It goes in only a single direction.

“It’s bigger than I thought,” Cal comments. He nearly flinches when Kaidan’s screen flickers and dies.

“I cannot activate my camera,” Zippy crackles over the omni-tool.

“That ain’t creepy at all.”

“Let’s head down.” When Cal makes a face, he adds, “Aren’t you glad you came?”

“Ready to reenlist right now,” he laughs.

They switch on the lights mounted on their armor then Kaidan descends down the ladder first. Zippy’s patiently waiting for them at the bottom.

“Let’s send him out first,” Kaidan says. “If any aliens are still around, he’ll give us a heads up.”

Cal nods and Kaidan sends the VI down the hall. They take their time exploring but it’s a straightforward path. No other doors or halls break off. The walls are carved with patterns that are impossible to occur naturally. What purpose did this place once serve? Why does Zippy’s camera not work, what technology lurks down here? Shepard hopes at least some answers are found today.

“Whoa, look at these paintings...”

Cal stands next to him to look and feels his stomach drop. A little red circle with more red painted around it is at the top, black shadows surround it. There’s a bunch of blue, at the very bottom is more black. Shepard stares and remembers the time he descended into a sea of blue to find the leviathan.

Kaidan takes pictures before moving on. They keep walking, Zippy still in the distance. “I’ve found a room, Kaidan.”

It takes another minute for them to reach it and it’s significantly larger than either of them expects. Cal turns around then looks at the ceilings. “Were...we walking downhill that whole time?” How else can this room exist without any hint of it on the surface?

Lights flash on and Cal and Kaidan leap behind the rows of stone seating, hearts racing. But nothing attacks, no aliens run in with their own red biotics. They both stand and Shepard investigates the lights as Kaidan approaches the platform all the seating faces.

“Careful!” Kaidan chastises from across the room, voice echoing off the cold walls.

Cal stares at him, hand still hovering just a few inches away from one of these odd floating balls of light lining the room. “It’s warm.” But even he doesn’t want to chance sticking his arm in. “Anything interesting over there?”

“Maybe. This altar has an indent in the middle.”

Cal joins him on he platform, the altar standing between them. His hand brushes the top of it. He looks up sharply and Kaidan asks what’s wrong.

“I thought I saw something. Must’ve been Zippy.”

Nothing else is in this room, it must have been Zippy.

“Maybe this is where the orb was. Or I guess it stated ‘artifact’ in the notes, huh? But if it’s not an orb then that opens up an infinite amount of possibilities.” The indent in the altar does look a bit small. “And everyone of those possibilities sucks. Or maybe this was a collector hangout and those paintings were the reapers. But I spent all that awful time in their base and didn’t see an art displays.” He knows he’s rambling but he realizes Kaidan’s been unresponsive this entire time. “Uh, Kaidan?” Kaidan stares at the altar unblinking so he waves his hand in his face.

Kaidan looks up at him. “Hm? Oh, sorry. Let myself get lost in thought a moment, know you’re on the lookout.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“Just those archaeologists who were here. I feel so bad for what happened and angry that the leviathan keep inflicting pain. Well, probably the leviathan.”

“Yeah, it’s a sad thing. Especially that guy that killed himself.”

“You’ve thought about him a lot, huh?”

He nods. “Since I tried to do the same exact thing and all.” He glances around the room, at anywhere but Kaidan. “Today’s ten years.”

Kaidan’s eyes widen a bit. “You do remember.”

“Yeah. Sorry I lied. And--sorry for bringing it up at literally the worst possible time.”

“Your timing, uh, may leave something to be desired, yes.”

Cal grins for the first time inside this dark creepy place. “Let’s keep exploring for now, yeah? I don’t want to curse us by talking about this stuff. Here. In the dark.”

“We’re not in the dark, we have those weird lights to comfort us.”

They walk away from the altar to examine the rest of this raised platform. It’s clearly a stage but why people were up here and why people were seated remains unknown.

“Kaidan, I’ve found something here on the ground.”

They go to the back wall and just like Zippy says, there is something against the wall under some seating--a small pedal.

“Get ready to run,” Kaidan warns then steps on it. The walls rumble and then a panel in the middle lowers. More lights appear, illuminating another secret passage. Cal sighs and Kaidan tells Zippy to go first.

“This wasn’t mentioned in the Dig notes,” Cal says.

“The archaeologists wouldn’t have come down here.”

“But someone should’ve. This pedal’s easy to miss but some crazy artifact in some derelict tunnel warps people’s minds and you’re not sending your best people to _scour_ this place?”

“Or they did search thoroughly and someone made the decision to keep it quiet? That’s quite possible too. Let’s explore this hall and see what we find then I think the Council has some explaining to do.”

“Don’t they always. If they try to hold out on us, we’ll bully the volus.”

When Zippy says the next area is empty, they join him. This hallway is different from the other, it winds and twists and branches off. “He went this way,” Kaidan says and points right.

“You think the leviathan are coming back?” Cal asks quietly. The only sounds are their footsteps and Zippy’s occasional distant remark. The silence of this place gives him anxiety.

“Maybe,” Kaidan answers, voice just as low as if he’s scared the leviathan might hear. “We always knew they’d come eventually.”

“They disappeared after the war. I think everyone just let themselves forget about them.”

“Maybe this is their way of reminding us.”

“I dunno. I don’t think they’d want to announce it. Those aliens were a bit rabid, out of control.”

“It’s hard to know anything right now.”

Another few turns, some more walking, ransacked empty rooms--just as they’re both ready to call it quits and make the long trek back to the surface, Zippy speaks for the first time in a while.

“Did he say he detects life?”

Kaidan frowns. “What kind of life, Zippy?”

“Yeah, that part’s pretty important.”

“It seems I’ve discovered the planet’s flora.”

Shepard suppresses the urge to run forward, just in case the monsters are hidden. Light spills into the rest of the hallway and when they reach the entrance of the next room, they both freeze.

The ceilings jump dramatically again but that’s the least interesting bit. It’s like a miniature jungle in here. Thick heavy vines and swathes of moss sprawl the walls, wild ferns and flowers of every hue tower over them. Smaller plants shroud the ground Cal wonders if something is about to leap from the brush.

They step forward cautiously, it’s difficult to see but there is a pathway leading to another hall on the opposite side.

“How does this exist without any sort of sunlight?”

“Guess those lights are more than decoration,” Kaidan answers. “Look over there, there’s a ladder leading up.”

Shepard sees it, noticing that it’s strangely devoid of any moss or plants. “Thank fuck, that better be the fucking exit.”

“I can continue exploring if you like, Kaidan.”

“That’s be great, Zippy. I wish your camera worked down here but we can still communicate.”

“Naughty VIs get banished to the tunnels,” Cal laughs, documenting some of the plants. Kaidan does the same.

“I don’t want to linger here too long on the off chance all of this is toxic to human physiology and Zippy just can’t detect it.”

“Oh, right. Always a possibility. I am ready to get the fuck out of here.” Shepard reaches the ladder first and begins climbing. “Glad ‘heights’ isn’t one of our fears.”

“I still don’t recommend looking down.”

There’s another square door above them, just as black as the one before but closed this time.”

“Ugh, this is heavy. Goddamn it.”

“Can you get it?”

“Whoever designed this has zero talent in architecture. I could probably get it if I had both hands.”

“What are we-” Shepard flashes blue above him and then the door violently bursts open.

“Hope no one’s up there!” he calls and hauls himself out.

Kaidan follows with a shake of his head, coughing at the dust that falls on them. This exit puts them at the top of a small cliff. The camp isn’t visible from this vantage point and neither is the other entrance.

“Please tell me you can call the car to our location,” Cal groans. “Otherwise you’re gonna have to carry me.”

Kaidan frowns. “Is your leg hurting?”

“No, I just don’t feel like walking anymore.”

He rolls his eyes. “I can bring it over but it’ll probably take a minute to roll up this hill.”

“Abbett’s scouts aren’t really all that.”

“If they’re even scouting at all.”

“Oh? Usually I’m the one with conspiracy theories.”

“How else would they have missed these entrances? And if these two exist, more probably exist. Who knows just how extensive those tunnels are?”

“I hate this line of work. You have all these coordinates, right?”

“Yep.”

Their ride finally arrives. “Our chariot awaits. Time to go back and harass the Council for answers.”

“And Abbett as well.”

Cal hops into the passenger side. “Don’t worry, no way did I forget about our new general friend.”


	5. Chapter 3

“Don’t lie to me, Abbett.”

“I’m not. None of my scouts found any sort of underground entrance.”

Shepard crosses his arms. “Not really good scouts then, huh?”

“...I was ordered not to send them too far.”

“What? Aliens are at our doorstep and they’re giving orders like that?”

He sighs. “You would think a general had some control or say so. I didn’t know this planet even existed a week ago. I was told to keep our people close and guard this site because of the ‘delicate nature’ of the Alliance’s work here and because it’d be safer to defend a single location. My team sent out drones to survey the entire planet for movement but have found nothing. I...was also ordered not to mention any of this to Shepard.”

Cal glares. “Why the hell not?”

“I don’t ask questions.”

“Whatever.”

“What are my new orders, Spectres?”

“Keep doing what you’re doing for now,” Kaidan tells him. “Shepard and I need to have another conversation with the Council.”

He nods. “I will forward my orders to you. After the hell we all went through a few years back, this has me nervous. I do want to help how I can, something obviously isn’t right.”

Kaidan opens his omni-tool and confirms that he receives the email. “Thanks, we’ll let you know if there’s anything else.”

They return to their ship and head for the comms room. They pass by their two engineers.

“Are we leaving?” the quarian asks. Cal forgets his name.

“Not yet,” Kaidan answers. “We gotta make a call, you two still have time to go outside.”

He nods and they keep walking.

“What were their names?” Cal whispers.

“Ketor and Bifna. Well, I think everyone calls them Biv. Ketor’s married to the doctor.”

“I’ll learn everyone’s name eventually.”

“Looks like you’ll have the time after all.”

“Depending on how this call goes.”

“We both know how this call goes.”

“Heh, let me hope.”

As soon as the call’s set up, they see only Irissa and Quentius. “Our apologies,” the asari says. “The other Councilors have matters they’re currently attending.”

“That’s fine,” Cal tells her and his anger has been bubbling since the earlier conversation. “After everything that went down with the reapers, I’m a little stunned you guys are holding information from us. Did we learn nothing from the near-annihilation of civilization a few years ago?” He has to remember to reign in his temper, take a step back. This is supposed to be Kaidan’s mission, he doesn’t want to steal control from him.

“We’ve sent you everything the Alliance has sent us about the science team, Shepard. Is this referring to the planet’s history?”

“So you know.” He’s even more annoyed now.

“Yes, this is about the Dig Incident in 2174,” Kaidan intervenes. “We found notes about it in the archives but they’re severely lacking. The exact coordinates for the tunnel entrance the archaeologists found weren’t even listed, we just happened upon it ourselves.”

“Whether these two events are connected is questionable-”

“That should be for us to determine,” Cal interrupts.

“If you’d let me finish, Shepard. As you may be aware of by now, that planet is legally constrained. The Alliance requested a little more time to gather their files before we informed you of the Dig Incident. We allowed it, as long as they understood that if you asked us then we would tell you, because we didn’t think an old incident would be relevant to your initial survey of Janus.”

“This is absurd. Why do they need more time? We got a bunch of monsters that disappeared to who knows where and they wanna play games?”

“My instincts tell me this is more out of embarrassment rather than maliciousness,” Quentius says. “Once you read the full report, I think you’ll understand why we believe that.”

“If the Alliance wants to hide their incompetence over an old incident,” Irissa adds, “well, we have more important matters to focus on. Their games will be exactly that--irrelevant games--and nothing you can’t handle, we need to discover the origin of these aliens.”

“They’ve sent a general here just to tell him not to scout the planet and to actively withhold information from Shepard. They’re going to get these people killed too.” Cal can tell from Kaidan’s tone that he’s just as angry as he is, he just hides it better.

“I don’t agree but technically speaking, Shepard is no longer a spectre or a member of the Alliance. What have you found so far?”

“We explored underground through a door that was already opened. If it wasn’t Abbett’s people then that could’ve been where the aliens came from. It’s heavy, not the type of thing to just be blown open by a gust of wind. We discovered plant life beneath the surface and it’s clear intelligent creatures occupied it at some point. No sign of our current aliens though. We need to review the rest of this information before deciding our next move.” He glances at Shepard. “Based on the paintings in the tunnels and this mysterious artifact, we suspect the leviathan might be responsible. These aliens being a race formerly under the reapers’ control is also possible, like the collectors. The reapers are gone but that doesn’t mean they would automatically disappear too.”

“I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised if it is indeed the leviathan. We’ll discuss this with the other Councilors.”

“It’s a good idea to have those tunnels explored in depth. We only covered one portion and we have no real idea just how extensive they are.”

“We’ve allowed the Alliance to have control since this was their planet and their science team, but this is where we step in. We’ll send our own people to ensure there’s no...conflict of interest with the Alliance. Is that all?”

“For now, yes.”

“Contact us if there’s anything else.”

The call ends. “These people are all a bunch of mother fuckers!” Cal exclaims.

“They definitely seem determined to make our jobs more difficult.”

He drops himself in a chair and waits for Kaidan to pull up the files at the table. “Oh, now the fucking coordinates are listed. Ugh. Sorry. I’ll stop bitching.”

“It’s fine, I’m just as frustrated. You’re just the more vocal one between us.”

“You mean I’m the loudmouth.”

Kaidan smiles. “Yeah. Okay, time for the whole story.”

“Read it to me, I need to stretch my leg out.”

“You just saw all the paragraphs and don’t want to read it.”

“That too.”

“The Earth Archaeological Institute-”

“Say that five times fast.”

“-bought a tip in 2174 about Janus and Elijah Coutts’ team was sent. A group of five found an artifact underground--a stone--someone touched it, it knocked the others out.”

“Are they really still alive?”

“Yeah, except Adam Ballard. He’s the one who killed himself, he and Coutts were married. As of 2175 he was still in a coma. The remaining three are awake but their minds are basically gone. It sounds like they’re just shells now.”

“Shells?”

“They don’t talk, react, do much of anything. Whoever they were, they’re gone. They live in facilities that serve to just make them comfortable.” Kaidan frowns. “Poor guy. Adam’s the one who touched the stone. The guilt of what happened must’ve been too much.”

“Why’d he touch it at all?”

“He wasn’t in control. He described it as some sort of hypnosis. When he was himself again, the others were unconscious. It doesn’t say why he was unaffected, I guess they couldn’t figure it out.”

They move on to the next set of notes--interviews with other diggers on site but not in the tunnels, with the doctors studying their conditions, Alliance patrols who later investigated the planet. It seems like they never even discovered the rest of the tunnel Kaidan and Cal explored. It all just points to one gigantic mystery. Like their current situation.

“Still no location on the artifact,” Kaidan grumbles. “Oh.”

“It’s never a good sign when you say ‘oh’ like that.” He walks up to Kaidan and reads over his shoulder. “Oh. The Alliance lost the stone. They lost the fucking stone!”

“Is this why they kept it a secret? Because some stone with terrible abilities we don’t understand just got...lost?”

“Probably. The less people to know it exists and is out there, the less chance someone with horrible intentions will go after it. The Alliance must’ve bought the rights to the planet shortly after. So what the fuck happened to this rock?”

“The Alliance didn’t have it initially. Teams on the Citadel did. The following year, the Alliance got possession and then a couple years after that, it went missing.”

“It was stolen.”

They read the rest of the notes, feeling even more lost when they’re done. “Okay, here’s everything we know so far.” Kaidan activates a screen and lists out the bullet points. “And what we suspect is that the aliens came looking for the artifact, they didn’t find it, they attacked the nearest target--which was the science team.”

“And according to their orders, they really were cartographers.”

“Yes. But I still find it hard to believe they just happened to set up camp where they did. So we have unknown aliens and their artifact just loose in the galaxy, which is potentially a leviathan thing.”

“No sign of them since the war and we’ve never actually seen an enthralled race before. From the leviathan. But they dominated the galaxy a billion years ago, they must’ve had control over at least a few races.”

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, are we?”

“No, we should be prepared for anything. Besides, we’re gonna look more into it for evidence. This makes the most sense right now.”

“What’s a war with the leviathan going to look like?” Kaidan asks quietly.

“I...don’t know. There probably aren’t that many left, they’re in hiding for a reason.” Cal reaches his hand across the table. “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together. Like always.”

Kaidan puts his hand on top of his. “Like always.”

“Since there’s nothing on this hellhole planet, I wanna shower and change out of my armor.”

“Same. I’m hungry too.”

They return to their quarters and as Cal washes a layer of dust off himself, he remembers his confession at the altar and wonders if it slipped Kaidan’s mind. He hopes so, they have more important things to worry about than Cal’s lackluster mental health.

He dries off then walks out of the bathroom, pointing at Kaidan. “I don’t want to but we should visit those archaeologists.”

“Agreed. If we get a look at their condition for ourselves, that might shed some light on if this is a leviathan orb. Three of them are on the Citadel. I’ll have to check Coutts' location.”

“I don’t understand why Ballard moved him away from the others.”

“Frustration, desperation for answers. I’ve been doing more research while you were showering and in ‘75, there was a large string of arrests within the Alliance. They were Cerberus spies.”

He sits down, distantly aware he’s still naked. “I wonder if they’re the reason the stone’s missing. But if a bunch of them were discovered, how did it disappear two years later? Unless they didn’t get all the spies?”

“Even if Cerberus did get it, where would it be now?”

He shrugs. “Lost. Forgotten in a random facility in a random star system.”

“Miranda could possibly know something. Or can find out.”

“I’ll call her. I think we’re just about done on this planet, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell the crew to return in an hour then we’ll grab some food and tell Abbett we’re leaving.”

“Ooh, I like when you’re bossy.”

“You consider _this_ bossy?”

“I was about to make a joke then seduce you but I just remembered how unsexy this room is.”

“That’s not usually a deterrent for you.”

“Yes, which tells you exactly how I feel about our quarters. What orders are you giving to Abbett?”

“I’m telling him to send guards at each of the entrances we found but to wait for the Council’s people. I hate that I can’t fully trust a general right now but it’s better they wait.”

Cal didn’t trust any of them to begin with. He gets up and slides underwear on, feeling eyes on him. He turns around, thinking Kaidan does want to fool around and ready to blow off some steam, but the expression on his face clearly indicates something else.

“Do you want to talk about what you mentioned earlier?”

“What do you mean?” But Cal knows what he means. “It’s fine. We have more important things to worry about.”

“Don’t say that. This is important too. So important.”

“It happened a long time ago though,” he murmurs and sits back down in the nearby desk chair. “I just-” He doesn’t remember the moments leading up to his attempt but he remembers exactly how alone he felt that entire day and all the days before that. Tears fall onto his lap. “It’s been ten fucking years, why doesn’t this ever get any easier?”

Kaidan gets off the bed and kneels down in front of Cal. “It hurts. People die and they leave really, really big holes behind. Find your favorite memories with Ryan and just keep holding on to them. Today was a really bad day ten years ago but you got through it.”

“I had a lot of help. Ryan’s parents visited me in that facility every single day. They helped me go through his belongings and put them in storage, made sure my rent was paid. Even my old boyfriend came back into my life when I was a patient and was there for me.”

“And that’s okay, we all need help sometimes.”

He rests his head on top of Kaidan’s. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll be here for you always.”

“I know. I’m here for you too. We’re quite the pair.”

“Yeah, we really are.”

~~~~~

A couple hours later, the Luminosity leaves Janus behind with more questions than answers. They’re going to contact Admiral Hackett soon to see just how hidden this Dig Incident was meant to be. There’s simply no way these two things aren’t somehow related. If Hackett can’t find anything or someone tries to give them more trouble, Shepard has no problem threatening to expose all the details in an interview with Diana. He just wishes they had a better lead on these aliens instead of simply hoping a clue will turn up.

Shepard sends a message to Hackett to call him as soon as he can then goes into the ship’s lounge area. “What are you guys up to?” he asks, sitting down.

“Playing some stupid turian game,” Utok grumbles.

“You’re just mad because of how badly you’re losing,” Cassian tells her. “It’s not stupid.”

“I think it’s a fun game,” a quarian who’s not Ketor says.

“Thank you, Valo.”

Utok rolls her eyes.

“You don’t have to keep playing. Shepard can take your place next round.”

“I’m playing until I win. I almost had it last match.”

“Shouldn’t you ask him if he wants to play first?” Valo points out. Now Cal remembers, Ketor’s the engineer and Valo is the doctor. Another human walks in and they exclaim his name as he holds up two cases of beer.

“I’m off until breakfast duty, let’s go!” He plops them down on the table and Cal can see that one is suitable for turians and quarians. The man catches his eye. “Oh, hey, Commander!”

“Just Shepard is fine, I’m not actually a commander anymore.”

“Ah, that’s right. You’ve got a new occupation now.” Ash winks. “Really enjoy your work.”

“Heh, always happy to meet a fan.”

“Beer?”

“Always.”

They play a new round of this game, Utok insisting on continuing. Kaidan joins a while later and they get to know their crew a little more. It does look like they’re going to be with each other for some time. Cal thinks back to the adventures on the Normandy. Times were dire but he misses being constantly surrounded by his friends. Things are much different on the Citadel now that everyone’s returned to their own lives and new responsibilities. He misses drinking in the lounge with Wrex, playing chess with Sam, exchanging slutty stories with Diana. Without Kaidan and his friends, he knows he never would’ve gotten through the war intact. This current crew seems close and comfortable with each other, but he still misses _his_ crew. But after this mission, wherever it takes them, he’s done with this work for good.

But these people are fun. He tries very hard not to compare them to his old crew, his close friends. And more importantly, he’s sure they’ll do well in a fight too when that inevitably comes--the Council wouldn’t have hired them otherwise.

Shell’s voice crackles on the comms. “Shepard, you have a call.”

“Is it Hackett?”

“Yes.”

He tells everyone bye then hurries to the comms room, feeling Kaidan close behind. Cal starts the call.

“Shepard, Alenko. Good to see you.”

“You as well, Admiral,” Kaidan greets.

“Your message mentioned you’re on a mission for the Council to investigate that murdered science crew.”

“Yes, we left Janus a few hours ago and are now on our way to the Citadel. We have...no idea what these aliens are yet or what they’re after.”

“We were hoping you’d help with something else though,” Shepard says. “We’d never heard of Janus before, everyone says the Alliance keeps it on a need-to-know basis and we also discovered that something called the Dig Incident happened there fifteen years ago. Have you heard about it? With some archaeologists, an artifact?”

“It does sound vaguely familiar but I would need to look into it more.”

“The Alliance tried to keep it a secret from us saying ‘we just need more time to gather the files first’ but the Council already gave us what was in their possession. So we’re already suspicious, we’re just not sure where exactly to direct those suspicions towards. What we’re hoping you can help with is--what happened to the artifact? Where was it kept, who guarded it, what were the circumstances leading up to its disappearance? Cerberus might’ve been at play but we don’t know why there aren’t any real answers.”

“It’s also possible the leviathan are attempting to return,” Kaidan adds. “The aliens themselves could be involved with them along with the artifact. That would explain why they were on that planet in the first place.”

“I trust your instincts but without evidence, I’m afraid certain people in power will be in denial. Some civilians don’t believe the leviathan even exist. You guys were right about the reapers all along but some memories are very short-term.”

Cal knows that’s true and that knowledge has him fuming.

“Our investigation is far from over. Cal and I want to visit the people affected by the artifact and see their condition ourselves.”

“It’s very concerning an object like that is missing. I’ll look more into this, I give my word. Even though you’re spectres, or a former spectre, I might have an easier time in my search.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’ll contact you when I have something. Stay safe, you two. We need to be very careful with this.”

“You seem tense,” Kaidan remarks when the couple is alone.

“Heh.”

“He’s right about people not wanting to listen.”

“I know. That’s why I’m angry.”

“I think what’s different is the Council is on our side this time. And even though you don’t want it, you hold a lot of authority. If you speak, people--the public, I mean--will listen. They can put pressure on their own governments, we won’t have the disadvantage this time.” Kaidan squeezes his shoulder. “We won’t be alone again.”

He turns toward Kaidan and closes his eyes when his hand moves to play with his hair. “How do you feel about seeing those people?” Cal asks.

“The archaeologists? I...don’t want to go. We’ve seen a lot of fucked up stuff but I know seeing them is going to be painful. We don’t know them but they had their own lives before that incident and they were just stolen away. Thinking of their family, their friends being unable to do anything when they’re _right there_ is just...”

“I don’t want to either. But it feels like we have to.”

“Maybe this will provide us some new clues...somehow.”

They leave the comms room but neither man feels like returning to the lounge. They go to their cabin, it’s still going to be quite a while before they reach the Citadel.

~~~~~

The Presidium is a big place but Cal could probably walk through here blindfolded. It’s home more than any other area in the galaxy but a lot of the time it doesn’t feel that way. He and Ryan bought their first apartment together when he was nineteen--not just Ryan’s place where Cal was given a room, but an apartment they both paid for. Cal remembers how excited he was to move in, to buy furniture, to decorate his bedroom. That apartment was the first real home he’d ever had.

Just glancing around, it’s like the war never even happened. For much of the time when planets and people were dying, it _didn’t_ happen here. The Citadel was spared because of his crew’s actions years prior. The Council, its citizens, were able to just...pretend. At the end, parts of the Presidium and Wards were completely destroyed, corpses filled the halls while blood stained the floor and the walls. Cal still can’t look at a keeper without feeling nervous. Cal still feels angry at which parts of the galaxy were prioritized over others.

A hand holds his and he glances over. Kaidan’s not looking at him though, lost in thought and moving unconsciously. Cal suggests lunch first and he quickly agrees. They’re both procrastinating. What must these people’s families feel like? How devastated would Cal be knowing Ryan or Kaidan was physically so close but no longer actually there?

Even though the facility is in the Presidium, neither of them have heard of it before. They enter the address and let the car take them. It’s tucked away in a quiet area, barely any signs to indicate it’s the right place. The lobby is clean, sterile, like any hospital or doctor’s office. A few people dot the area and it feels less abandoned than the outside indicates.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” the receptionist asks as they approach the desk.

“Hi, we’d like to visit a few people,” Kaidan says.

“Of course. What are their names?”

“Taylor Green, Julia Heng, and Natalia Hernandez.”

Cal’s eyes narrow when his fingers falter a bit while typing.

“And your names? I need to log all visitors.”

“Kaidan Alenko and Cal Shepard.”

Some more typing and then, “I’m...sorry. Only a specific list of people are allowed to see these patients and your names are not on that list.”

 _“What?”_ Cal exclaims. “That’s absurd. Why the secrecy?”

“Their cases are...sensitive. I’m afraid I can’t say more than that.”

“Listen, kid, we’re-”

“Can we speak with who’s in charge please?”

“Yes, I’ll call Dr Nexa to the front desk. It may take a few minutes, if you’ll have a seat over there.”

Cal watches this person who can’t be older than a teen speak on the phone. He wonders how he got the job at a facility like this, maybe he’s older than he looks.

Kaidan leans forward in his seat. “It’s not all that surprising. The Alliance probably made them do this.”

“These are the people you want to keep working for?”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“What’s a joke?”

“No government is perfect, but they’ve done a lot of good too.”

“You should quit so we can be hardened mercenaries instead.” It was a real question from Cal but better to play it off with a joke.

“Will we have uniforms?”

“Leather harnesses. That’s it.”

“I’m sure we’ll be the talk of the galaxy.”

“He didn’t recognize our names.”

“He might be the only person.”

“Mr Alenko, Mr Shepard?”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever called me Mr Shepard before, I don’t like it,” he whispers before standing. A turian in a white coat stands with the receptionist now and he looks taken aback.

“You didn’t mention _they_ were our guests.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“You’re human, you really don’t recognize the only two human spectres?!”

“Hey,” Kaidan interrupts sharply. “He’s just doing his job, don’t be rude to your employee.”

“Oh, sorry you heard-”

“Apologize to him,” Cal orders.

“Uhh, right. I apologize for my tone. Thank you for calling me up here to handle this situation. And you two, I understand there’s a few patients you’re interested in seeing.”

“Correct, it’s part of an investigation. Do all your patients have special guest lists?”

The turian seems to glance behind them. “Perhaps we should talk elsewhere.” He leads them off to some chairs in the corner before continuing. “Green, Heng, and Hernandez have been at this facility since 2175. I did not work here at that time but I’m very aware of their cases. The Council gave us a list of people who could visit them and everyone else was forbidden. It’s never been changed or updated, and I can’t remember the last instance someone who was not on those lists attempted to see them.”

“And what’s the status of their condition?”

“Nobody is any closer to figuring out what’s wrong than the day this happened. Our job here is to keep them comfortable. They don’t talk, they don’t react to anything we say. If we have them lie in bed, they’ll sleep. If we put a plate of food down and sit them at a table, they’ll eat. Since you two are spectres, you’re of course allowed in. They’re on the fifth floor, most of that area is dedicated to them. The nurses at the desk upstairs can direct you.”

“Thank you.”

It’s a quiet ride to the fifth floor. The nurses have quickly been informed of their arrival and they point them towards a set of glass double doors.

A couple more nurses sit inside the large room, it looks like a rec area but only three patients occupy it. Kaidan and Cal look at each other then approach a table where two of them sit.

“That’s Heng and this is Green. Hernandez is on the couch.” Kaidan’s voice is so quiet but it doesn’t matter because these people aren’t listening. Or maybe they are and they’re trapped with no way of expressing it.

“Should we...try talking to them?”

“Taylor, Julia? Can you hear us?” No reaction, they’re focused solely on the plates in front of them. Cal taps Taylor’s shoulder but nothing.

They make a few attempts with each of them but it’s exactly as expected.

“We should find Elijah next,” Cal murmurs. They both gasp when Taylor stands and they briefly wonder if they’re reacting to Elijah’s name. They walk to the large windows allowing artificial sunlight in and simply stand there, looking out.

“Taylor?” Kaidan tries again. “Do you remember Elijah?”

But Taylor does not react any further and maybe it was just a coincidence.

Cal sighs and walks back to the table. He sits in Taylor’s seat and stares at Julia. She’s done eating. “Do family and friends visit?”

“Yes. Someone is here at least a couple times a week,” a nurse answers.

“After all this time, they still come.” He would come every day for Ryan or Kaidan.

Julia looks up at him but she’s not really looking at him, more through him. Was this the artifact’s purpose? To inflict this? Many in the galaxy would want to steal that kind of power but if the Dig Incident was kept such a secret, very few people know of its existence and even fewer of its former location.

“I think we’ve seen enough.”

Shepard doesn’t realize Kaidan’s at the table now too. “Oh. Yeah.”

“Let’s talk to a doctor and get their medical charts.”

“Okay.”

Just as Cal reaches the doors, he feels like he’s being watched. He spins around. No one’s looking. Taylor’s moved to the couch by the television, Natalia’s in a chair, Julia still is at the table. The nurses talk quietly to each other.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” he tells Kaidan and follows him outside. “It’s nothing.”

They get the medical records and sit in a private meeting room, reading these notes and wondering how all of this fits together.


	6. Chapter 3.5

“What’s your major?”

Adam watches his new lab partner for biological anthropology look up to answer his question.

“Archaeology. What about you?”

Thick accent. Is that Scottish? “Biology. Your name’s Elijah, right?”

“Ah, just Eli’s fine. And you’re Adam?”

“Yep. Are you a sophomore?” Adam can’t help but notice how handsome this guy is as he speaks. He then feels guilty once he realizes he hasn’t been paying attention to the last couple things he’s said. But the professor gets the class’ attention at that moment, sparing him from looking like an asshole.

The next few weeks, the two of them get to know each other better. They do their weekly lab together and sit with each other during lecture. They quickly discover they’re both gay and Adam doesn’t realize how glad he is for that. After class one Thursday, Eli invites him to lunch.

“My English class got canceled, thank god.”

“And here I was ready to trek across campus with you.”

Eli grins. “Suppose I’ll just have to walk you to calc then.”

They choose a place and sit outside with their food a while later.

“You got plans for Saturday? A few friends and I are going hiking in the morning. Just a short ride away on the train. It’s some of my friends from GSA.”

Adam opens his mouth to respond and Eli playfully jabs a french fry at him.

“Hey, I know you don’t want to join it, this won’t be me trying to convince you.”

“It’s great you’re president and all but I generally don’t have much luck with school queer clubs. But I’m down for Saturday. I could use some nature.”

“Great, I think you’ll like my other friends.”

Adam feels like he just accomplished something wonderful by making Eli smile like this, even though he always makes him laugh and Adam gets to see that smile often.

“And it’ll be nice to spend time without bio breathing down our necks. Our professor is a twat.”

“He...yeah, no, he is. But we’ve hung outside class before.”

“Yeah, but that’s been to do homework. Or when I’ve forced you to go to the library so I can print the lab out last minute.”

“Well, not really forced if I want to come with you.”

“Oh, but we should start studying for that test.”

“How about Sunday?”

“Yes. And now I promise to just shut the fuck up about bio. And will not mention a word of it on Saturday.”

They finish lunch and walk around campus. They end up near the track field where people are training.

“Were you ever into sports?” Eli asks.

“Nah, not my thing. You?”

“I was on the rugby team in boarding school.”

“Boarding school? So you actually lived there?”

He nods. “My parents sent me away when they found out I was gay. But joke’s on them because so was my roommate.”

“Huh. Did they...ever come around? Uhh, you don’t have to answer that of course. We can change the subject to these hot sweaty track runners instead.”

He laughs. “We’ll come back to these guys. But it’s fine, I don’t mind talking about it. Not really. They’re still rather homophobic. And transphobic, no shock there. My best mate growing up was trans, they hated him. I don’t talk to them much these days.”

“Oh,” Adam says quietly. “That’s awful of them.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s part of why I was so determined to leave Scotland, well the whole UK really. I just wanted to get as far away from them as possible. But I’ve basically been on my own since I was fifteen, I think it made coming to a new country last year a bit easier.”

“I can see how. What was boarding school like? Do you still play rugby?”

“I didn’t mind my house and I was glad to move away. My parents were overbearing long before I was outed. I haven’t played rugby since I came to the States though. It wouldn’t be hard to find a league but I’ve been so busy with school. But playing again would be nice.” His eyes widen and he looks at Adam like he’s just come up with a great idea.

“Ohhh, I know exactly what you’re thinking and uh, no thank you.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun with the both of us there.”

Adam berates himself for being so easily convinced. “Fine, if you find a team. But be aware that I’m gonna suck. And you’re not allowed to make fun of me.”

Eli smirks. “I would never. And don’t worry, we’ll just train extra hard.”

Is...Adam imagining the change in tone with those last few words?

Eli checks his phone. “Ah, I have to grab something from my apartment for this evening. Wanna come with? We still have time before your class.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I have to meet up with my group tonight for philosophy. A blast. On one hand, they want me to take the lead during our presentation since I don’t mind public speaking. But then they constantly complain about not understanding my damn accent. So I don’t know how that’s going to work out.”

“Well, that’s obnoxious. When’s your presentation?”

“Not until next month still. It counts as our mid-term.”

“Damn, so sports, science, public speaking--is there anything you can’t do?”

“Top.”

Adam laughs loudly. “That can be my sole thing then.”

“Did you do any extracurriculars before college?”

“Ugh, well, I was part of marching band. I play the xylophone.”

“The xylophone, huh? It’s cute you’re a band geek.”

“ _Was_ a band geek.”

“You didn’t try out here?”

“I did. I just didn’t make it. Ah well.” He did enjoy band but he omits the fact he spent a lot of time seducing half the football team after games.

They reach the correct building and Eli leads Adam to the second floor. The apartment is currently empty on a Thursday afternoon. “My room is this way.”

There’s a single bed inside, a desk, dresser, and a few sparse personal decorations. He sits on the bed as Eli rummages through a pile of books and papers. “How many people live here?”

“Three. The other two share a room, I paid for the single.”

“Nice. We’re four total but I share a room with my friend Taylor so it’s fine. The others are nice enough.”

Eli finds what he’s searching for and sticks it all in his backpack. “I was almost late to class this morning, tonight’s meet up completely slipped my mind.”

He stretches, and Adam watches the way his shirt rises, then collapses onto his bed. His shirt is still skewed a bit and Adam suppresses the urge to brush his fingers over the exposed skin.

“What’s your family like?”

Adam blinks and when he looks at Eli’s face, he’s already looking at him. _‘Oh god, he caught me staring,’_ he thinks. “Uh, we get along pretty well. Everyone jokes they knew I was gay the moment I could speak and my parents made sure that my sister and I knew not being cis and/or straight would be okay.”

“Damn. That’s how parents should be. Is your sister older or younger?”

“Three years younger. My parents bounced us around upstate New York in these tiny towns a lot. Our friends were constantly changing so the two of us have always been close. We finally settled in Rochester just before my junior year.”

“It’s very rural up there, right?”

“Yes. I never liked it but they’re always on the move. I’m surprised they’ve stayed in Rochester for so long. I think they’re letting Angela finish high school first.”

“Is Rochester near Niagara Falls?”

“Yeah. I’ve been there a handful of times.”

“I want to see it. I don’t know why I haven’t gone yet.”

“We could go sometime,” Adam says before he can stop himself. “Uhh-”

Eli’s laughter cuts through his panic. “That’d be fun. We can plan a weekend out.”

Adam shifts on the bed so he can see Eli a little better. His eyes are closed, he looks lost in thought. Adam wants to kiss him so badly. He opens his eyes at that moment and Adam loves how deep and dark they are, like the galaxy they’ve both talked about exploring some day.

Eli lightly bites his lip and Adam really hopes the same thing is going through his mind right now. He moves again, this time so his hand can reach out to cup Eli’s face. His heart’s beating so fast, he doesn’t think he’s ever been this nervous before. When Eli’s hand reaches up to touch his, he leans down and their lips meet and they’re kissing eagerly. Adam is supposed to go to calculus soon but he ends up missing class that evening.


	7. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple (main) chapters are written, unedited still but written, so it shouldn't be so long for the next update

“Find anything?”

Cal sits back in his chair and stretches his bad leg. “No,” he groans. “I set Zippy up to alert us of any new alien reports but that’s a shot in the dark. Miranda says she can’t find anything either. Most of her old channels don’t even exist anymore.”

Kaidan puts a hand on his shoulder. “How about you lay down for a bit? We’ll find something the deeper we dig into the...Dig Incident. Even if they don’t look directly connected, it feels like the right path for now.”

Cal stands, grimacing as _something_ in his leg pops. Kaidan gives him a look and he walks out to the couch. They’re home for a little bit but tomorrow they’ll leave for the Terminus Systems, where Elijah is for some reason. Kaidan has the location but it’s not like he’s going anywhere so waiting a day won’t matter.

He thinks about the three in the facility, how hauntingly vacant their expressions were. Are they really gone? It’s hard to believe that when their bodies still seem fine. And what about Elijah? Why is he the only one in a coma?

“Utok’s messaging me.”

Cal turns on the tv. “What does she want?”

“To come over with Shell. People are staring at him and she’s already threatened to tackle someone into the lake.”

“They can if you’re up for it.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Oh, but tell them they gotta bring food then. I’m hungry.”

“You’ve been doing better with getting all your calories in.”

“Ugh, I hate biotics.”

“Even when I use my stasis on you?”

His hands clench against his thighs. “Use it on me right now.”

Kaidan walks around the couch and kneels down, barrier activating as his hand slides up Shepard’s chest. He threads his other hand through his hair, listening to Cal’s breath hitch, then whispers, “We have guests coming.”

“You bitch,” he grumbles as Kaidan stands.

“Maybe I’ll make it up to you tonight if you’re good.”

Cal perks up at that. A little while later, the doorbell rings but Biv and Shell are the ones to walk in.

“Where’s Utok?” Kaidan asks. “C-Sec didn’t arrest her, did they?”

“The rest of them are getting the food,” Biv informs them.

“Wait, how many people are coming?” Shepard wants to know.

“The usual crew,” Shell says.

“You alright? Utok said people were bothering you.”

“I’m fine. Used to it.”

He thinks of all the times he’s been harassed, accused of being a murderer, called heartless, cold, and worse. “Shouldn’t have to be used to it.”

Shell momentarily tilts his head to the side in a gesture Shepard interprets as a shrug. Asher, Cassian and a woman named Pear enter next--she’s the ship’s cleaning crew. Still no food or Utok, but they at least bring drinks.

“We don’t have to leave early tomorrow...right?” Asher asks, opening a couple beers and handing them to his commanding officers without even asking.

Cal looks to Kaidan, hoping he doesn't make them leave early. He drinks down half his beer in the moments Kaidan thinks about it.

“I suppose we can leave in the afternoon. Our next stop isn’t exactly time sensitive.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” Cal groans. Asher looks visibly relieved too.

“So we do know our next destination?”

“Yes,” Kaidan confirms. “But we’ll discuss it more when the others arrive.”

Everyone’s getting rowdy with hunger when the last three finally show up. Shepard blinks when they roll in a cart. Their apartment feels cramped and Cal can feel his leg tightening as he sits on the couch.

“Where are we going next?” someone asks once they’re all settled with food.

“Alright, alright,” Cal says. “Kay and I visited some of the people affected by that artifact earlier. Unresponsive, just as we thought, but we wanted to see for ourselves. We’re going back to the Terminus Systems to see the fourth person, Elijah Coutts. For some reason, he’s been in a coma this whole time.”

“But what about the Alliance team?” Valo mentions.

“Those aliens are still our primary mission,” Kaidan explains. “However, Cal and I feel it’s too big a coincidence that the Dig Incident happened and now aliens killed that Alliance crew on the same planet. The Dig has been heavily covered up, even we’ve run into issues trying to gather information so we believe something is going on behind the scenes. We’re going to follow this path and see where it takes us.”

“When are we gonna fight stuff?” Utok says. “One taste of my flamethrower and these aliens won’t mess with anyone ever again.”

“They’ll show their ugly mugs again eventually,” Shepard promises. “You’ll be the first crew member we call when they do.”

They discuss the mission some more, everyone agreeing how suspicious it all seems, but then move on to non-work related topics. Cal ends up in a conversation with Valo.

“How did you and your husband meet? Were you on the same ship?”

“No, Ketor worked on a feeding ship as an engineer. I stopped by to check on a patient and that’s how we met.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Eight years. We’ve been married almost seven.”

“Oh, Kaidan and I will be together for seven next year. A couple days after my birthday actually.” It doesn’t feel like that long and he has to remind himself he was dead for two of that, they didn’t talk much for a year after that, his long recovery after the war...

So much of their relationship has been steeped in turmoil. He glances at Kaidan and when he catches his eye, he sticks his tongue out at him and Cal feels none of that turmoil.

“Do you think you two would ever have children?”

Cal makes a vivid expression that makes Valo laughs.

“That looks like a no.”

“A big ol’ fuck nah. Kaidan is really good with kids if it’s for a couple hours only but ones of our own are definitely not something we want. We’re not actually married either. It’s not something I’m personally into and he doesn’t care either way.”

“This man we’re going to see was married, yes?”

“Yeah, but that guy’s not around anymore. Elijah’s gonna be real devastated if he ever wakes up...”

“It won’t do you good to get stressed before we leave for the next destination. Come, let’s have more alcohol to distract ourselves.”

He bursts out laughing. “You’re a doctor! I’m the one who’s supposed to convince you booze is the answer.”

“Ah, but I’m off-duty right now.”

“I need a smoke,” Asher says and heads for the balcony.

“Nuh-uh,” Kaidan stops him. “If you want to smoke, you gotta go downstairs away from the apartment.”

“Yeah, Kay hates it. It’s why I quit so soon after I started again.”

“Not because it’s terrible for your health especially while in the midst of recovery...”

“Nope, I’m just lazy.”

“Anyone wanna head down with me then?”

“I’ll go,” Cassian volunteers.

“Me too. I need to stretch my leg.”

They pass by Kaidan and Pear and Cal hears him say something in Malay and she responds right back. Cal’s fascinated with languages and Kaidan’s taught him a few phrases but it’s not one he’s picked up yet.

Kaidan catches him staring. “Don’t be smoking out there.”

“Ugh, you sound just like Ryan. I won’t, I won’t.”

“I’ll sneak you one,” Asher whispers as soon as the door slides close behind them. “I don’t actually smoke that much. Just when we’re between jobs.”

“Which is all the time,” Cassian laughs. “Spectres never choose the Luminosity.”

“Why not?” Cal asks, wondering if he’s just exaggerating. “Is it because of Shell and they’re stupid?”

“No, it’s all of us. We have the least amount of experience as a spectre crew so we tend to get glossed over. Something like a reaper war happens and I guess they don’t want to take any chances with what might still be lurking out there. Or maybe they just don’t like Ash’s cooking.”

“Oh, you wound me, sir. I may not be able to adequately taste the food I prepare for you but I know it’s delicious.”

“How did everyone end up here? Were you part of the turian military?”

“For ten years before I decided to switch careers and become a firefighter on some tiny turian colony.”

“Why a tiny one? I don’t think I could live somewhere that wasn’t a huge city.”

“Probably for the reasons you don’t like it--it’s a lot quieter than my previous life. I was tired of the constant traveling, being away for such long stints. But then the reapers happened and I knew I had to re-enlist. The Council offered me this position after and I decided to take it.”

“See, it’s a good thing no one likes us, you aren’t traveling nearly as much as you used to.”

“Heh, you guys might be in this one for a while,” Shepard warns.

“Don’t worry, we’re ready for it. We all complain but we’re glad for this opportunity.”

“Oh, same. The complaining part, I mean. Kay’s already heard a bunch.”

“Something tells me you don’t like being a spectre,” Asher laughs.

“Shocking they chose me to be the first human one, I know.”

“Well, no, we know just how much you’re capable of and you did save the galaxy that one time.”

“I’ve just never enjoyed the lifestyle. I sorta fell into it as a teenager.”

“What happened?” Cassian asks. “We can change the subject of course. I came out, chose a different name, transitioned right before I had to join the military. I didn’t think I’d stay as long as I did, but I enjoyed my time serving.”

“Is it hard to change your name legally on Palaven?”

“It’s uncommon amongst most turians but the process itself is simple.”

“I didn’t think I’d stay that long either.” He hesitates, but then decides to talk about Ryan. He explains what prompted him to leave Mexico and how Torfan was the first tipping point.

“Wow, I had no idea _Shepard_ quit the military for two whole years,” Asher says and he’s lighting up a second cigarette. “They always made it seem like you lived and breathed the military.”

Cal laughs. “That’s propaganda for you, I guess. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was happy at the club but then Ryan died and I got scared I’d start using too many drugs to cope. So I re-enlisted as a distraction, failed out of N-School pretty much immediately, and a few years later Saren happened. And now here we are. I’m retired officially--permanently after this job.” Talking about this always makes him realize just how fucked up in the head he is. If their roles were reversed, Ryan wouldn’t have tried to kill himself. Ryan wouldn’t have worried that his grief would spiral into out of control drug use. Kaidan didn’t try those things when he died the first time. Cal wishes he was a stronger person.

“What about Kaidan?”

“Even if I sometimes wish he would, he won’t leave the Alliance. And he’s a good spectre, one the galaxy deserves. He’s the one in charge of this mission, I’m just along for the ride.”

Asher finishes up and they return inside. He asks Cassian more questions about the colony and Cal realizes Ash has barely said anything about his own life. He’s not even sure if he’s Earthborn or from a colony.

Shepard gets impatient by the end of the night, not because this rather unprofessional crew is bothering him or anything but for one reason only.

As soon as the last person leaves and the door slides shut, Cal grabs Kaidan by the shirt and yanks him into a kiss. “Kaidan, _Kaidan,_ ” he keeps murmuring.

“What do you need?” he asks.

But Cal doesn’t answer with words. He unzips Kaidan’s pants, tilts his head when lips attack his neck. He’s already getting hard, dick starting to strain against the fabric of his pants. His hand slips past the waistband of Kaidan’s underwear to cup his thick cock. He thrusts his hips against Shepard’s palm.

He’s half-hard when he pulls his underwear down and Cal drops to his knees. He knows he can easily get him all the way there. His nails scratch down Kaidan’s thigh as his other hand wraps around his cock. His tongue darts out, licks the head. His lips part and he slowly takes every inch of him. Kaidan’s groan makes him twitch and they’re both hard now. He resists the urge to touch himself as he focuses on the heavy cock in his mouth.

He wants to hear more.

His knee burns on the floor’s hard surface but he doesn’t care. It could literally be on fire and he still wouldn’t want to stop. But as soon as he shifts it a bit so he can keep going, Kaidan makes a sound.

“Get up,” he orders.

Cal loves the tone of the command but he’s unhappy because he knows why. He pulls his head back and looks up.“It’s fine,” he mumbles and tries to dart his tongue out again.

“Up.”

He moves with a pout and Kaidan helps him stand back up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you,” he whispers in his ear. “Are you okay standing?”

“Y-yeah,” he answers, distracted by the hands sliding his pants past his thighs. He kicked his shoes off a long time ago, after Asher’s smoke break, and he’s glad because that makes Kaidan stripping him go so much faster.

Kaidan’s still almost completely clothed but he feels his cock press against him from behind. He braces his arms against the wall and thrusts back, impatient since the moment Kaidan teased him with his biotics hours ago. As if reading his mind, a barrier activates and fingers glide down his spine then grab his ass. That hand reaches around, squeezes his aching cock, but that’s not what Cal wants.

“Kaidan,” he whispers.

“I’ll be right back.”

He doesn’t move, he just waits. When he hears footsteps return, he sticks his ass out more and jumps when a hand connects with his skin.

“The neighbors are gonna hear you.”

“Good.”

Fingers tease again before they’re gone. Cal’s hands scratch and scrabble against the wall as Kaidan finally pushes inside his hole. He fills him completely, Cal moaning at the familiar stretch. One hand grabs his thigh the other wraps around his chest. Kaidan’s lost his shirt sometime in the last minute. His thrusts are slow initially, Kaidan making sure he feels every inch of him.

“You like that?” he whispers in Shepard’s ear.

“Yes. _Harder_.” He gasps when Kaidan slams into him. A hand fists his hair, whispers of all the things Kaidan wants to do to him fill his ears. He moans loudly and imagines their neighbors walking through the halls, hearing for themselves how much of a slut Shepard is.

He’s panting as a hand drifts down to squeeze at his aching cock. But moments after his fingers wrap around himself, Kaidan grabs both his wrists and pins them against the wall. He starts pounding into him faster, his thrusts not letting up as pleasure pulses through Cal’s body.

“You’re cumming just like this, you don’t need _anything_ but my dick.”

But Kaidan then activates his barrier again and that makes Cal nearly activate his own in response. The secondhand buzz he feels from Kaidan’s skin against his practically drives him up the wall he’s fucked against. His muscles suddenly clench and he cums, making a mess of the wall. 

Kaidan’s hips keep driving into him and his legs quiver. He groans the moment he’s finally filled but it’s drowned out by the moan in his ear. Kaidan lets his wrists go and they drop to his sides as Shepard just rests his face against the cool wall. Kaidan gives a few final lazy thrusts as he bites along his neck. His teeth press a little harder for just a second before he finally pulls out.

He spins Cal around and kisses him. “Was that what you’ve been waiting for?” he asks, their faces just a couple inches apart.

“All night.”

Kaidan murmurs more promises for the rest of the night, a well-earned distraction and probably their last one for a while.

~~~~~

Shepard yawns while walking to the docking bay. It’s late in the afternoon but he and Kaidan spent much of the night awake. He was hoping Hackett would contact him before they left but he supposes it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t know where this new information will lead, either to Earth or back to the Citadel. They should start contacting their friends soon too to let them know what’s happening, to let them know _something_ dangerous is lurking out there. The more he thinks about it, the more stressed he gets.

The Luminosity takes off and the artificial sky morphs into the blackness of space. Its crew falls back into their specific roles, the rowdiness of the day before now calmer. Cassian flies them to their destination, a small system in the Terminus Systems. He’s looked at the facility online but he and Kaidan agree it’s best not to give the staff a heads up that they’re coming. It looks like a legitimate medical facility but Cal wonders who exactly frequents this place.

It takes time to travel but Shepard’s not eager to see Elijah anyways. But eventually they land on a planet where only the equator is colonized. Even if it’s the warmest area here, it’s still cold. Cal’s bundled in a sweater and hat instead of armor and a gun. Nobody except Asher and Kaidan seem okay with the temperature.

“Don’t biotics run warm?” Asher laughs as he passes by.

“He’s always hated the cold,” Kaidan says, probably remembering Noveria.

“I run even colder now ever since that bullshit on Despoina.”

The crew is allowed to wander the equator provided they don’t cause too much ruckus, only Cal and Kaidan seek out the facility. This one is similar to the Citadel’s, just smaller. They go to the lobby, hoping they don’t run into similar problems. Their spectre status doesn’t hold the same weight in this section of space.

“We’d like to visit a patient.”

Cal just watches the exchange.

“Patient name?”

“Elijah Coutts.”

He types the name into his computer and then makes a face. “Let me call my boss.”

They wait a few minutes and then the doctor in charge comes. They repeat the process.

“I’m sorry but Elijah Coutts is no longer a patient here.”

“What? Since when?”

“He was transferred here in 2175, then transferred out a month later.”

“Where to?”

“I can’t disclose that information.”

“I’m Spectre Alenko, this is Spectre Shepard. This is necessary information.”

“Ah...yes, of course. I will send the coordinates.”

“Why was he moved?”

“According to his record, his husband was unsatisfied with the progress doctors made on his condition. Or ‘lack of progress’ I suppose I should say.”

“Okay, thank you.”

They go outside and stop. “Seems clear what happened back then,” Kaidan sighs.

“Adam was desperate, got upset when they couldn't fix him, then switched him to a new facility. How many times did he do that?”

“We’re about to find out.”

“Let’s go. I don’t want to be on this planet.”

“I’ll call the crew back. Soon.”

Cal grunts as he rushes to the docking bay. The next place is a moon and it’s only a few hours away. When they arrive, Shepard takes a moment to stare out the windows at the gas giant they orbit around. Since the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and the surface is freezing, the entire colony is inside. It’s small, consisting of a few medical buildings, mining companies, and other necessities. It feels like an exceptionally lonely colony to relocate to when a loved one is sick. But this at least seems like exactly the sort of place bloodthirsty reapers would gloss over.

Workers pass by and stare as they walk. They clearly aren’t from the area. “How much you want to bet he’s here?” Kaidan mutters.

“He one-hundred percent is not here.”

“We should contact his family. His notes mentioned they were estranged but they might still know where he is.”

Coutts isn’t on this moon either. After another month, his husband transferred him somewhere new for the same reason. Kaidan and Cal told their crew to wait in the ship, so they don’t waste anymore time on this icy moon. They send Cassian the newest set of coordinates and head for the comms room.

“It’s weird that all these places are in the Terminus Systems,” Cal remarks.

“Yeah, it is. Maybe he thought the Council or Alliance was part of some conspiracy. Grief can make you believe...things you normally wouldn’t.”

Shepard waits for Kaidan to find Elijah’s information. It doesn’t take long.

“They still live in Scotland. What time is it?”

Cal checks his omni-tool. “It’s like 11pm over there.”

“Eh, that’s fine.” He starts a call. Cal rolls his eyes when they don’t answer but Kaidan leaves a message.

Hours later, when it’s past two in the morning, they get a call back.

“Hello, is this Lewis and Molly Coutts?”

“Yes, we’re both here.”

“This is Spectre Alenko and Shepard. We’re currently on a mission for the Council and we have some questions about your son, Elijah.”

A pause. “We haven’t spoken to him in almost thirty years.”

Cal already knows they had no contact before the coma but hearing them say it so casually makes his blood boil. Why do terrible people have kids if they’re only going to abandon them? “We’re aware of the lack of contact you had with him,” he bites. “What we want to know is what facility he’s currently at. His notes haven’t been updated since 2175 when he was still at the Presidium Health Institute. He hasn’t been at the last two facilities we were directed to either.”

“We don’t know where Adam shipped him off to and he can’t tell us now.”

“What was the last contact you had with Adam?” Kaidan asks, cutting Cal off before he can snap.

“Shortly after the accident, when Eli was on the Citadel.”

“Was this in person or through a call?”

“It was a call. We didn’t make the trip down there.”

Now Cal cuts Kaidan off. “Your son is going to be in a coma for the rest of his life and you couldn’t be bothered to see him? Why?”

“I don’t see how your judgment is relevant to your mission.”

“Answer the question.”

“Elijah married that man when he was twenty-five. We haven’t spoken to him since.”

Kaidan squeezes his shoulder. “Are you sure you know nothing about Elijah’s current whereabouts? Any ideas where Adam would want to take him in the Terminus Systems?”

“We just don’t know.”

“Okay. Thank you for your time.” He hangs up quickly.

“ _Thank you?_ ” Cal exclaims. “They abandoned their son and you’re _thanking_ them?”

“Obviously I’m not thanking them for being terrible parents. It’s just a formality.”

“What you should’ve said is ‘fuck you, you homophobic cunts. You should be in comas, not him.’”

“Oh, yeah, real professional.”

“Who cares? Bad people do bad things and everyone acts like them getting called out is the crime. Nevermind he’s in a coma and Adam must’ve been terrified and they couldn’t be bothered to take a ship to the Presidium. Do you know what the caretakers constantly told me in the orphanage? ‘We must practice forgiveness. We don’t know the reason your parents left you here but we mustn’t assume their intent was malicious.’ And then they’d fucking hit me when I ‘misbehaved.’ Fuck all that, I hope my parents are dead for what they did to me and I hope Elijah’s parents fall into the sun next.”

Kaidan just stares at him and he suddenly feels very self-conscious.

“I need to take a walk around the ship.”

“Okay,” Kaidan murmurs.

Shepard’s fuming as he goes and the ship’s quarters, which usually he doesn’t mind too much, feel way too cramped. No one really looks at him directly and they sort of walk around him. Those two aren’t important to their mission at all, telling them to drop dead wouldn’t have mattered. No one would’ve cared. But Cal would’ve gotten a little satisfaction. He can’t yell at the people who birthed him but yelling at these assholes who abandoned their gay comatose son would’ve been the next best thing. Kaidan can stomach being polite to them because he doesn’t know what it’s like.

Cal leans against the wall and closes his eyes, hoping no one stumbles across him like this. He knows going off on them wouldn’t have changed his childhood or fix Elijah’s situation, but he doesn't care. After a few minutes, he finally moves from this dark corner of the ship. But a crew member needs his help with something so he takes care of that before seeking Kaidan out. He eventually finds him in the armory with Bifna.

“Biv, can you give us a minute please?”

“Uh-huh.”

Once the volus is gone, Kaidan just looks at him. “You still mad?”

“Yeah. I still wanna tell them off.”

“It won’t make you feel better.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know _you_.”

He crosses his arms. “Sorry I yelled at you.”

“I get why you’re mad at them, I do. But me trying to maintain an air of professionalism as a spectre is not giving them a free pass for the bad things they did. It’s just me trying to do my job.”

“Yeah.”

“You have more to say.”

“These people are living their lives without a care in the galaxy while their son’s life is basically over. My parents were probably doing the same fucking thing while I was hungry and sharing a jacket with three other kids my size.”

Kaidan walks up to him. “What your parents did was unfair and you endured a lot because of it. But Lewis and Molly Coutts aren’t them.”

“I know. Ryan’s family took me in, your family took me in, but sometimes I still catch myself wondering what my family was supposed to be like.” He shakes his head. “It’s stupid, I know what it would’ve been like. A dysfunctional, trashy disaster.”

“It’s not stupid, it’s natural to wonder about those sort of things.”

“I guess. But there’s no point, I’m never going to know for sure. Again, sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I’m mad at them, not you.”

Kaidan rubs his arm. “Thanks. We’re a team, but just remember that you and I handle people differently. Our personalities balance, they’re not identical.”

He laughs. “I’m an asshole and you balance that out. But no, I-I know that. I also know we’re no closer to figuring anything out.”

“We...sure aren’t.”

“We can try Adam’s family next.”

“Maybe I should try his family next.”

“That might be for the best. If they so much as breathe wrong, I’ll probably go off before you can cut the call. Every empty facility makes me think something more than a desperate spouse seeking answers is involved.”

“Me too, I’m just not sure what yet.”

The fourth facility was destroyed during the war and the surviving staff and patients transferred to another facility. Their records state Eli was transferred long ago and the next place is empty too. In between, Kaidan does call Adam’s parents while Cal promises just to listen. It’s like night and day. They were close to Adam and considered Eli their third child.

“But he was so distant in those last few months,” his mother laments.

“We knew something deeper was wrong,” his father continues and they know it’s taking these two everything they have not to break down crying. “But we just thought it was the normal grieving process.” He breathes deeply. “We saw Eli a few times in those other facilities but we don’t know where Adam transferred him in October of that year. We tried to find out but the Alliance told us that Adam cut the list of visitors down to just him and...after he died, there was nothing legally we could do.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

“We tried to sue, we tried everything we could, nearly went bankrupt to find Eli. But there were no loopholes in Adam’s documents, nothing any lawyer could chip away at. All these years later, we still don’t understand why or how.”

“Adam was lost and desperate to heal him. I...all we can do now is hope that Eli is still being taken care of or...that they’re together again in the next life.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Kaidan has to force his voice to sound louder than a whisper. “For both of them. If we do manage to find him or find any information on his current condition, I promise to call you again.”

“Thank you, Spectre.”

The call ends and both men feel uncomfortable. Cal doesn’t like thinking about Adam, Cal doesn’t like thinking about his guilt and his grief, Cal doesn’t want to be reminded of all the things he said he’d do if only it could bring Ryan back. Cal’s surprised when he finds himself having to hold back tears.

The ship is landing on the latest planet and he stands in a hurry. “Let’s get this over with.”

It’s in a small town on another random colony. But at least this one isn’t cold.

“This is the right street, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kaidan answers, looking around.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

They stop at a dead end, a grocery store marking the very end..

“We must’ve missed it. You look left, I’ll look right.”

But the address doesn’t exist.

“Did it close down?”

“Let’s just go to the mayor,” Shepard suggests. “No point in wasting our time scouring a whole town.”

An asari is in charge, they’re allowed in her office without issue. She narrows her eyes as they enter. “What are two of the most famous spectres in the galaxy doing in a town like this?”

“We’re looking for a medical facility. The last place gave us an address that doesn’t seem to exist.”

“What’s the name?”

“The Center for New Medicine.”

Shepard can tell by her expression that she’s not familiar with it.

“I’ve never heard of it. But let’s check.”

No records of it exist except an obscure extranet site that lists no way to contact the building. They check the entire colony and Kaidan even phones the doctor who gave him the address but it’s no mistake. This is supposed to be the place Elijah was last transferred to.

“You can try the hospital. Other than that, I just don’t know where your person can be.”

They thank the mayor and take a cab to the hospital, already knowing he won’t be there and unsurprised when he isn’t. They walk to a cafe that’s mostly empty at this hour and sit down.

“This is fucked,” Kaidan says.

“Heh, yeah. It is. I don’t know where we go from here.”

“Are we...are we focusing too much on this? When there’s aliens out there?”

“What do your instincts tell you?”

“That the stone, and therefore Elijah and the others, are somehow related to the aliens. But...they’re gone. What if chasing a man in a coma across the galaxy is just a waste of time?”

“It might end up being a dead end. That just happens sometimes. But then you find another way and keep going. If these missions were easy, they’d hire any dumbass to do them.”

“But they hired these two dumbasses instead.”

“Right,” Cal laughs. “We just gotta figure out the next step.”

“I think the leviathan took Elijah,” Kaidan says quietly. “Maybe they just...killed Adam and stole him. He was in a coma while the others weren’t, what if they thought they could use him for whatever the hell they’re doing?”

“Then we really need to find where he went.”

“I’ll try to pull up the records from his last transfer, see who exactly took him from the facility. Dig more into this place that doesn’t exist.”

“There’s gotta be something.”

Kaidan sighs and finishes the rest of his coffee. “I need another cup. Or ten. Do you want to stay here for a day or two?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure the crew will like to be on solid ground.”

“They’re probably bored. I picked their crew knowing they didn’t have as much experience as others but wanting to give them a chance to really show off their skills, because the Council wouldn’t have hired them if they weren’t all capable. They thought they were going on a big adventure but turns out we’re just using them as a glorified taxi.”

“Until we run into some giant space octopus that squishes our ship like a soda can. Then they’ll be wishing for our taxi.”

“If that happens then you can just seduce the octopus and we’re good.”

“Hehe, you know me so well.”

“Do you want to rent a hotel room or sleep on the ship?”

“Hotel. I’m tired of the ship.”

“Already? We were just home not too long ago.”

“I was born for solid surface, not to float in space.”

Btu Kaidan knows ever since he...died he gets antsy when in space for too long. It’s mostly under control but Kaidan can tell when it’s getting to him.

“Should we offer to pay for the others?” Kaidan asks as they enter the lobby.

“Nah. They can pay or sleep in the ship for free.”

They check in for a night then Cal heads straight for the bar. Kaidan orders their drinks and they try to ignore the stress of this mission for a little bit.


	8. Chapter 4.5

“Adam Ballard?”

“Here.”

His sociology professor continues down the roster. This is his second class of the day, his second ever as a university student, his first time living away from home. He misses his sister but he’s excited to start working towards his biology degree. He’s only in this class as part of his general ed.

“Taylor Green?” The professor looks around. “Taylor Green?”

The door bursts open moments later and a frazzled person enters.

“Are you Taylor Green?”

“Yes.”

He continues down the list. Taylor glances around the classroom and notices the empty seat next to Adam.

“First day of class and I overslept!” Taylor whispers. “Overslept!”

“Since this is the first day and most of you look like freshmen, we’re going to do an activity to get to know each other better.” He write a few questions on the board and tells the class to get to know a few people. “Oh, and exchange contact info in case you have to miss class. Spoiler alert, there’s a group project later in the semester. Best to familiarize yourselves with other students now.”

There's a very audible groan at the words ‘group project.’ Taylor turns to Adam.

“Wanna be my new sociology pal and potential group project partner?”

“Sure,” Adam laughs. He glances at the board. “Okay. So your name is Taylor, which the whole class now knows. I’m Adam.”

“Well, hello, Adam. Nice to meet you. Why’d you sign up for Sociology 101 and what’s your major?”

“Gen ed. I’m a bio major. What about you?”

“Archaeology. I’d love to explore other planets someday. The thought of uncovering knowledge of ancient civilizations is just too fucking amazing honestly. And what kind of _current_ ones exist?”

“The question of the century. This stuff is all so crazy. Have you ever been off Earth?”

“Yeah, I lived on Mars for a bit for my mom’s work. I’m the youngest of my siblings so now that I’m in college, my parents are getting ready to move to Eden Prime with the next wave of colonists.”

“Wow, I’ve never left before. As exciting as leaving the Sol System is, it’s...kinda scary too.”

“Yeah, it is. There’s an entire galaxy to explore, who knows what we’ll find?”

“Or who.”

“Let’s just hope they’re friendly.”

There’s a noticeable shift as they quietly think about hostile alien races and all the potential disasters a brand new human colony could face.

“Uh, you said you had siblings? And that you’re the youngest? How many?”

“There’s five of us. My oldest brother is twenty-seven and then there’s me at eighteen. How about you?”

“I have a sister who’s still in high school.”

“Are you from around here?”

“Not quite. Upstate New York.”

“We lived in New York City for a minute. It’s alright.”

The professor stands from his desk and they’re reminded of the questions they never finished answering. As they go over the syllabus, they realize they’re not really going to enjoy this class.

~~~~~

“I am going to kill a man,” Taylor exclaims as they collapse on Adam’s bed.

“Pfft, as if Doug is worth going to jail for,” Adam says, typing at his computer. “We’ll go to Miller next week and tell him what’s up and see if we can just cut Doug off this project.”

“That’s why group projects are stupid.”

“I mean, our careers will basically be one big group project.”

“Sure, but with people who don’t skip out on Sociology 101 class. And that stupid bitch misgendered me.”

“He’s a fucking idiot. You know he asked if your sister was my girlfriend when she visited?”

Taylor rolls their eyes. “We have very clearly talked about my pronouns and you being gay. Dumbass. Has he answered you yet?”

“No. He’s probably hungover.”

“I’m about to storm his damn dorm.”

“This was supposed to be a simple class, now it’s turning into my most stressful one. There’s no group work in calc.”

“Oh, I feel that. Ugh, come on. Let’s go to lunch. I don’t want to think about him anymore. You doing anything tonight?”

“Nah, got something in mind?”

“ A few friends wanna go out. Don’t worry, it wont’ be like last week.”

“I swear, if you take me to another cis straight bar...”

“Hey, I was a victim of that too. This one will have plenty of guys for you to choose from, I promise you’ll get laid.”

“Fine, but if you’re lying I’ll pull a Doug and ditch you.”

“Bitch,” Taylor laughs.

It’s cold out on this November afternoon but not snowing yet. Adam’s never enjoyed winter, he’s been through too many heavy ones.

“Where are you going for break? Your parents leave at the end of the month, right?”

“With my brother and his wife. And yeah, I’m ditching class next Wednesday so we can all spend their last few days here together. I know it’s a holiday weekend but you’re invited. Florida isn’t a far shuttle ride.”

“I’d like that. But...I don’t want to impose on your family if this is the last time you’ll see each other for a bit.”

“It’s not imposing. You already met Angel and she loves you, I want the rest of them to meet you too.”

“Alright. But if they end up not wanting me there, please just tell me.”

“Fine, but that won’t happen. You probably want to see your family so how about you come Sunday morning and then we can just come back here together. Be prepared to skip classes Monday.”

“That works for me but I’ll let you know for sure in the next couple days.”

He’s a little nervous to meet all of Taylor's family at once. Their sister was cool but what if the others don’t like him? But he’ll go, he’s glad Taylor thinks of him as a close enough friend now. He’ll invite them over to see his family during winter break. Taylor’s parents must be pretty adventurous to leap into colony life like this. There’s still so much they don’t know about the Milky Way. As much as he wants to explore the galaxy, it’ll still be years before he actually gets the opportunity. Their galactic presence will (hopefully) be more established by then.

But he sees that same spirit in Taylor. He’s sure they’ll miss their parents. He knows he would. Another state is much different from an entirely different star system. As much as his parents love moving and exploring...that’s only in the UNAS, he doesn’t think they’ve ever even considered colony life. He’s glad they haven’t honestly. But he’ll be here for his friend and support them as much as he can during this transition.


	9. Chapter 5

His omni-tool rings and there are only two people he has allowed to come through on sleep mode. One of them is in bed next to him, which means-

“Hackett’s calling,” Cal slurs, shaking Kaidan awake. Maybe he _shouldn’t_ have the Council on mute at night but in his defense--they’re supposed to call Kaidan first. He groans but Cal sees him open his eyes. “Morning, Hackett. Afternoon? I don’t know what planet I’m on anymore.”

“Ha, did I catch you at bad time?”

“Nah. We don’t have a whole lotta leads right now so I can always take a nap later.”

“Investigation not going so well then?”

“We’ve hit a bit of a wall. Coutts, the guy in a coma, is missing. His husband transferred him to multiple facilities in a very short span of time, which is why we’re on this current colony. Except...he’s not here. The facility wasn’t destroyed or had patients transferred somewhere else. It just doesn’t exist. We suspect the leviathan are involved somehow. Since he’s affected by the artifact, maybe they wanted him for something and staged a kidnapping.”

“That’s...concerning. I don’t know the information I have will help much either.”

“We’ll take anything you can give us.”

“The one who gave General Abbett the order not to search the rest of Janus was Admiral Thomas Morgan. With a case this important, a few admirals have been assigned to overlook it but it seems he gave the final order.”

“Any reason why?”

“In case enemies still stalked the area. He emphasized defense, not offense. I tried to find reports from when the artifact was stolen. It sounds like a mess. Systems were hacked, footage was destroyed, false orders issued. A couple guards were injured but no one was killed. The amount of work that had to go into this makes me believe an entire group was involved. The Cerberus ring was arrested in ‘75 but possibly some went deeper into hiding and did this. A few agents still have orders to search for the artifact and are bound to secrecy.”

“So someone hasn’t forgotten about it. If Cerberus was involved, I’m very surprised the artifact hasn’t resurfaced. It doesn’t seem like something they would’ve just buried for ten years.”

“Agreed. I don’t know if your notes listed it but the Earth Archaeological Institute was forced to sign an agreement not to talk about this publicly.”

“Not surprising. Looks like we have some more people to contact. Was Morgan involved in ‘75?”

“I don’t believe so. He wasn’t an admiral back then, he wouldn’t have the same authority. That’s everything I’ve found.”

“Thanks for helping us, Hackett. Now we have some people we can question.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for anything else. The galaxy is in a delicate state right now, we need to make sure it doesn’t spiral.”

“Agreed.”

Cal yawns loudly after the call ends. “Zippy!”

The VI flies next to the bed. “Yes, Cal?”

“Get me the contact info for the Alliance’s Admiral Thomas Morgan and whoever runs the Earth Archaeological Institute.”

“Will do.”

“Are you getting up now?” Kaidan asks.

“Fuck no,” Cal groans.

He makes a noise and rolls over and Shepard does the same. His eyes close again, he stops thinking about the call, he goes back to sleep.

Hours later, Zippy is going off. “Kaidan! Cal! Kaidan! Cal!”

Shepard practically falls out of the bed as he scrambles to sit up, he sees Kaidan sitting on the opposite side of the room with a mug in hand.

“Zippy, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve picked up a distress beacon in a nearby system. Transmitting now.”

_‘This is an SOS, the colony Yarn is under attack by an unknown alien race. They are hostile and we need immediate assistance.’_

They stare at each other and then Shepard’s rushing to get dressed while Kaidan orders the crew back to the ship and sends the SOS to the Council.

“I’ve never heard of Yarn,” Cal says as they hurry to the Luminosity.

“It’s a small colony, swampy. It’s not too far.”

“A colony in the Terminus Systems should be able to hold up better than a handful of scientists.”

“Long enough for us to get there at least. I’m gonna talk to Cassian, can you announce what’s happening to the rest of the crew?”

“Sure.”

Half the reactions are normal--small gasps, concern for the colonists and about the aliens--the other half are exclamations about finally getting to fight something. But that's assuming the colony isn’t quickly decimated in the time it takes them to arrive. Shepard doesn’t voice that though.

He searches Kaidan out a little later to ask him how he wants to divide the crew. They all have their designated role on ship but each member has to be a proficient fighter to serve on a spectre crew. Still, some people make more sense than others.

“You and me. Utok and Shell. Ketor with a couple other fighters. Cassian stays on deck, I want the most experienced pilot to stay with the ship for emergencies, same with Valo. Ketor has enough medical experience to assist the colonists, so do we. I’ll form another team if needed. Irissa’s sending two spectres already in the area to help us. Well, sort of in the area. We’re going in blind, Cassian can’t establish contact.”

“Great. I’ll tell the crew to suit up and be prepared for anything.”

Shepard dresses in his own armor, straps on his shotgun and pistol. His fighting style has always relied heavily on his biotics but he’s never managed to do that quite as efficiently after the war. He wonders how this impending fight will go. They’ll win of course but what will getting there look like?

As they approach the planet, Cal and a few others huddle on the bridge. Cassian attempts yet again to get a colonist on the radio and fails. But they have the beacon’s location and follow that.

Shepard frowns after they enter the atmosphere. Massive jungles sprawl the surface, making it difficult to see. Carved out areas in the foliage mark what must be cities but there are very few of them and not a single light emanates from any except for one. One region in particular is clear of any jungle but the land is blackened. Fires. Or was it reaper beams? A shiver racks up Cal’s spine as he remembers the heat of one nearly obliterating him on Rannoch.

“Is that their docking bay?” Cassian asks.

“Looks thrashed. Guess you’re not landing.”

“I can survey the rest of the planet. If you need anything, it’ll take no time to return.”

“Okay. Those of you fighting, get to the shuttle bay,” he orders. “We’re leaving in five minutes.”

“Good luck out there. Keep us updated.”

“We will.”

An older pilot named Syed drives the shuttle towards the city. They pick up the sound of fighting as they close in but they all stare as they pass the sparse abandoned remains of what look like ruins.

“We’ll need to look at that later,” Kaidan murmurs to him. Cal nods in agreement.

Kaidan directs Syed to drop them off near the town entrance and take the others to different points. Honestly, Shepard wants to see Utok’s flamethrower in action. He suddenly thinks about the enormous jungle they’re surrounded by. It...probably won’t catch fire and burn the entire planet down. They hear fighting inside but the only things outside these walls are bodies.

“Look.”

Kaidan carefully approaches a blob tangled in some bushes. They both recognize the alien. But they don’t have time to analyze it besides a scan to confirm it’s actually dead and some pictures. They mark its coordinates then enter through the blown apart gates.

“This is Spectre Alenko and Spectre Shepard. Is anyone on this channel?”

The radio crackles. “ _Two_ spectres? Well, fuck, I won’t complain. I’m Mayor Adril, our colony’s under attack by something hostile, and we need all the help we can get. They’ve blown most of our equipment, currently working to get it fixed, but the beacon is the only thing sending a message outside of town. Not that there’s shit outside town but it’s the only thing getting off planet.”

“What’s your location?”

“I have survivors holed up in the town hall’s basement with both entrances barred as we tend to injuries and fix our radios. My sheriff is somewhere but he knows the basement is our base of operation in emergencies.”

“We’re on our way to you. Two other teams are helping secure the area.”

A couple aliens run ahead and they duck behind crumbled debris. Kaidan’s still talking quietly to the mayor, trying to get more details. Red biotics flash and Shepard counters with his own. The aliens sprint towards them but Kaidan finishes them off with his rifle. They push forward, distantly seeing the town hall Adril described.

“Ketor, Utok--Kaidan and I are heading for the town hall where the mayor is. You stay outside searching for survivors and taking down these creatures. If we can apprehend one alive that’d be something but don’t risk your life more than we already are. Join us when you can.”

_“We already melted a few of these bastards down. Who else wants a taste?”_

_“Acknowledged, Shepard.”_

The city is in shambles. Vehicles are overturned or on fire, buildings look like meteors crashed through their walls, bodies of all sorts litter the streets. It looks just as bad as it did on Janus except in a much larger radius. But as they continue through town, it feels like both a war zone and construction site and Shepard wonders if this is still left over from the war. That must be why the other cities are dark--they were destroyed long before this.

They hear a scream and Kaidan pinpoints the sound to one of the houses off the main road. The front door is broken, repeatedly sliding back and forth in an attempt to fully close. Kaidan shoves it open and three aliens bang and scratch their talons against a locked door deeper inside. They spin around, screeching loudly with their sharp claws swinging wildly through the air. This is the closest the two of them have ever been to live ones and it’s terrifying.

Cal throws them against the door then dives behind the kitchen counter. Kaidan flips a metal table onto its side for protection. One rockets forward faster than they expect. Shepard tries to warp it, Kaidan tries to get it too. But it throws up a barrier that absorbs their attacks and then explodes, knocking them both off their feet in this small space.

Shepard’s vision fills with the alien hovering above him but he grabs his shotgun and empties the clip into it. Nauseatingly warm blood spills on him and he kicks the corpse off him before leaping up. Kaidan’s busy with the other two, ensnaring them both with his reave. They screech again, Cal feels his heart skip a beat. He throws them and their combined attacks detonate, slamming the aliens against the walls again.

The living room is getting wrecked but it’s a small price to pay to stay alive. They each shoot one dead. Kaidan looks at him.

“Are you okay? That’s all their blood, right?”

“Should be.” He’s going to need a lot of showers later. He knocks on the door. “Hey, the aliens are dead. You good?”

“W-who are you?”

“A couple of spectres. We heard the mayor’s distress call.”

“Syed, we need the shuttle to our location. We got survivors.”

“On my way, Spectre.”

An asari and two humans emerge from a locked bathroom. They glance around at the wreckage and then at Shepard’s bloody armor with alarm.

“Our shuttle will pick you up,” Kaidan tells them. When Syed arrives, the pair leads them outside and they run into the shuttle without a thank you.

“You’re welcome, dicks,” Cal mutters, realizing he should be more understanding towards people who must be traumatized.

They keep moving and see a black blur run into a building. They chase after it and judging by the overturned aisles and scattered products, it’s a small grocery store. The power’s out and the sun doesn’t hit well from this angle. Shooting comes from the back and Cal yells, “Come fight me, ugly!” to get the alien’s attention. Something rushes at him from the side and he feels his bad leg move a certain way as he rushes to dodge.

The fighting in back stops and Shepard hopes it’s because the alien’s dead and not the people. They make quick work of this one and carefully walk down the aisles.

“The coast is clear!” Kaidan announces. By the sound of the footsteps, it’s people. Moments later, a turian comes into view.

“Are there more people in here?” Shepard asks.

“Yeah, a few civilians. What started as one creature turned into a swarm so we barred up in the break room. I got separated from my officers earlier and my radio’s busted.”

The deeper Cal looks, the more carnage he sees.

“That’s not even all of them. I’m not sure where they went but I plan to find out.”

“Well, you must be Adril’s missing sheriff.”

“That’s right. Their ship landed before we could even attempt to establish contact. I sent scouts to check it out but I’ve heard nothing since their initial report. I have no idea what these things are, I just know they don’t like us.”

“We don’t know their origins either. They killed an Alliance science team last month. This is the first we’ve seen them since.”

He sighs. “Have you talked to the mayor? We’re supposed to meet at town hall during emergencies so that’s where I was headed before this distraction.”

“Yeah, we were on our way to him. The rest of our people have orders to help survivors. We’ll get this group to our shuttle and continue on.”

They call Syed and head back outside. They part ways with the turian and continue towards the center of the city.

“We found your sheriff,” Shepard tells the mayor. “He’s making sure some civilians get picked up. How you holding up?”

“We’re okay but some injuries will need a real hospital soon. The aliens aren’t letting up.”

“Everyone hear that? Let’s pick up the pace.”

_“Uh, Spectres? A moment.”_

“What’s wrong, Syed?”

_“I picked up a ping near the ruins so I flew overhead. A small ship is nearby that wasn’t there earlier. I think I saw a quarian. I don’t know what they were doing or if they were just hiding out.”_

_“We don’t have any quarian residents. I’d remember if we did,” the mayor informs them. “But ‘ruins’’ is a strong word. Maybe it used to be something but these days it’s just trash.”_

“Has it ever been explored?”

_“Yeah. Nothing interesting. Quakes probably caved whatever it was a million years ago.”_

“Ketor, Utok, how close are you to the mayor’s location?”

_“We’re about to enter the building,” Ketor says. “There’s heavy activity in the vicinity.”_

_“We’re providing cover.”_

Cal looks at Kaidan.

“Change of plans for us,” Kaidan says and points back the way they came. “We’ll see what this person is up to. Ketor, keep heading for the mayor.”

“What do you think they’re doing?” Cal asks as they run through the previous wreckage.

“Probably trying to hide but we need to make sure. People still associate quarians with ‘thievery’ but they could be a stray merchant or someone just visiting for whatever reasons.”

“And I thought my timing was bad.”

They proceed with more caution once they reach the jungle surrounding the town. Besides aliens, frightened or hostile wildlife is also a concern. Tall trees point towards the sky, thick green leaves shadow much of the ground. With each step they take, new colorful plants appear. Their armor helps regulate their temperature but the air is still thick and warm on their faces. Clouds begin moving in the sky above them, Shepard wonders if it’ll rain soon.

“This reminds me of that room on Janus,” Kaidan says as they navigate the vegetation.

Cal blinks. “I wonder if the ruins are similar.”

“Adril said they weren’t anything great, but what if they just missed a hidden entrance?”

The dense plants abruptly clear around the ruins and they hide behind a bush. Remains of what once had to be stone structures stand in the clearing...and are also strewn about the area. Moss covers much of it, nature slowly claiming back what belongs to it.

“I don’t see-”

And then there’s a flash of biotics stronger than either of them expect. Blue. The pair runs and when they turn the corner of a collapsing wall, they see who their pilot must’ve seen. A giant reptilian corpse poses awkwardly in the dirt but the quarian is already uninterested. Shepard watches them run towards a small ship with something in their arms.

 _“Hey!”_ he yells. “Stop moving! What are you doing here?”

The quarian spins around but he still can’t tell what the object is. Cal starts walking closer.

“Colony’s getting attacked, people are dying, and you’re over here acting weird. Start talking.”

The quarian flashes blue before Cal even realizes their arm moved. But a barrier spares him from an attack that probably would’ve tossed him into the trees. Kaidan’s at his side instantly but the quarian’s already aboard the ship. They both charge across the clearing but it flies off too quickly and they watch the ship disappear into space. They don’t have time to give chase, the colonists are more important right now.

“Did you see those biotics?”

“It must be like krogans,” Kaidan suggests. “Biotics are rare but the ones that possess them are strong. We’ll figure it out later though, we need to get going. They’re not coming back.”

Cal glares at the sky and growls when a heavy raindrop lands on his face. Some of the bushes rustle and they turn toward the source just as a large creature emerges. Shepard takes just enough time to register its movements as ‘hostile’ before his own biotics activate. It’s like the corpse on the ground--thick scaly skin, a big body, a small head full of razor sharp teeth. The only difference is that it is much, much larger and Shepard worries that this first one is its hatchling.

It lets out a deep thunderous roar that shakes the trees then rapidly spits out a thick goo. Shepard and Kaidan rush to get out the way. That goo is either poisonous or simply disgusting and Cal doesn’t want to add to the blood he’s already covered in.

“Uhh, hey Adril, we ran into a giant lizard. Any strategy for those things?” Shepard winces when static crackles in his ear. But then he hears,

_“Y--eah. D-don’t make...m--ad!”_

It roars again and between that and the radio, it feels like his eardrums are about to burst.

“Failed step one,” Kaidan grumbles.

Cal sends out a warp that initially does nothing, but the second makes it stumble a bit. “Well, look at that.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“It’s not gonna matter if we’re dead.”

He simultaneously feels powerful and weak fighting against this creature. The thrum of his biotics always feels good but he knows they’re not at full capacity. He’s not sure if they ever will be again. Even with all his cybernetics, he almost died after the Crucible. But he needs to keep pushing, keep launching warps until he doesn’t have to anymore. He can’t stop the quarian, he can’t question them and ask what the fuck they were doing here, but he can stop this creature. It’s extremely hostile, they can’t risk it getting loose in town and trampling any survivors.

He tries his hardest to simply do what he needs to but Kaidan definitely takes the lead. Normally he’d be just fine with that but nothing about any of this is normal. He lobs another attack and Kaidan’s next throw seems to injure it. It snaps its sharp teeth in their direction and a tail swings to knock down an ancient stone wall.

“Gimme a barrier,” Kaidan says as they settle themselves on the opposite side of the clearing.

Cal’s arms are tingling but he obliges without hesitation. It goes up just as a glob of acidic spit smacks against a nearby rock. It drips down and the scattered leaves on the ground start disintegrating. Kaidan glows but Shepard turns his focus to the creature. It’s not running anymore but each heavy step is still a reminder that it’s coming right for them.

He glances at Kaidan again and lets his thoughts falter for the quickest second, knowing his body will keep the barrier active. He knows he’s so stupid but seeing Kaidan glimmer blue reminds him of every bright blue giant he’s ever flown by. Everyone has always turned to Shepard for answers, but he thinks Kaidan’s the one who shines brighter than he ever will. Ever since the war ended, Cal’s felt like a black hole consuming every bit of light within his orbit.

This is taking more energy than he’d like and he wishes he’d eaten more on the ship. But then he’d just be nauseous. Three years since the war and he’s still having issues? He hates it. Doesn’t he deserve something for saving the galaxy? Haven’t he and Kaidan suffered enough?

“Drop the barrier.”

The beast is close but he lets it dissipate. He thinks back to the Collector base, to when Jack protected them with her barrier. He’s still not sure if anyone else was left quite as traumatized as he was after that ordeal.

Kaidan releases a storm of biotics, power behind the attack that he doesn’t usually allow himself to unleash. Kaidan is strong in many aspects and able to use his abilities in very delicate ways, but sometimes Cal forgets the raw biotic strength he possesses.

The attack courses through its entire body and the creature falls to the ground lifeless. It’s finished within just a few seconds.

Kaidan sighs. “Better to end it quickly. For multiple reasons. Are you okay?”

“Always. Are you?”

“Yeah.”

He looks up, the clouds are moving swiftly and already covering where the ship escaped. It’s still hot and uncomfortable but not quite as sweltering with some sunlight blocked out. “Let’s head back.”

They run through the jungle, the colorful plants thickening but eventually thinning back out as they near the city. Cal notices that his abilities should’ve cooled down by now, the thrum should’ve fizzled by this point. But it hasn’t and he’s not sure if something’s wrong or if he’s just running on anxiety and adrenaline. Probably the latter. He hasn’t really done anything particularly crazy or useful. It just makes him mad--at the war, at the catalyst, at his terrible recovery.

By the time they’re back within the gates, their crew has reached the mayor and the rain is pouring. He’s leaving old bloody footprints behind as it washes down his armor.

“Some of these people need a real hospital as soon as possible,” Ketor informs them. “Most of the clinic’s equipment here was destroyed. Valo can perform miracles but they’ll need long term care. Syed’s been transferring people to him.”

“Then we’ll take them. Cassian, you there?”

_“Yes, Alenko.”_

“Tell whoever’s on their way that we had a quarian at the ruins for unknown reasons. Adril says no quarians live here. They attacked us to get away and flew off.”

_“I’ll contact them now.”_

They hear more screeching in the distance but as they run through town, they notice the body count is significantly lower. They run into the sheriff but he says his people aren’t responsible for much of this.

“They’re taking the bodies back. They don’t want us to have them,” Kaidan says.

“So they’re not just mindless monsters,” Cal huffs. “They’re here for a reason. What about your scouts? Any luck?”

“I still haven’t heard back.”

There’s still danger that needs to be swept up in the capital but they finish transferring the most severe patients to the Luminosity.

“We should split up.”

“I-” Cal bites his tongue.

“One of us should stay on the colony,” Kaidan continues, seemingly unaware of his hesitation, “in case anymore aliens come back, search for anyone else in need, and talk to the other spectres arriving. The other should go with the ship and ensure there’s no issues with the hospital.”

He doesn’t like that idea. “Okay, who stays here?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“It’s your decision. I go wherever you need me.”

“You take the Luminosity. I’ll stay here with Utok, Shell and Syed. I’d keep Ketor here too but Valo’s gonna need a lot of help. The closest place is going to be at least a few hours away.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Syed takes him and the others to the ship before returning to the planet. He worries about the aliens returning for another round and hates that they have to be apart at a time like this, but he knows Kaidan is able to handle anything anyone throws at him.


	10. Chapter 6

Shepard sits down for the first time since this mission began. Valo is tending all their new patients with his husband’s help as Cassian hurries them to the nearest welcoming colony. The adrenaline’s wearing off and Cal is tired. He knows he should drink some juice or eat something for energy but sitting in this chair sounds so much better.

It’s nothing compared to what he used to be capable of but he pushed his body on Yarn, he knows that. And they barely have anything to show for it. The aliens aren’t just mindless monsters like they suspected, they actively sought out their corpses. With the immediate threat gone, will they be able to search for tangible clues?

Someone walks towards him but why is this ship so poorly lit? That was the one thing Cerberus got right. As they get closer, he sees their mouth moving but he can’t quite hear what they’re saying. His eyes squint and his head feels like it’s swimming. His vision’s black, are his eyes closed?

The next thing he knows, he’s somehow moving and he’s pretty sure people are with him. He looks down to see if his feet are walking but the action instantly makes him dizzy and he shuts his eyes. Then he’s lying down and everything stops spinning. It takes a few minutes to regain his awareness and when he does, he sees he’s in the med-bay.

“Gave everyone a scare.”

Ketor’s here. His omni-tool is open and he types something.

“A little overexertion from your biotics,” he explains. “Nothing an IV can’t fix.”

He grunts. “Don’t tell Kaidan.”

“Valo’s legally obligated.”

“What about doctor-patient confidentiality?”

Ketor laughs. “That doesn’t exist on a Council ship. Don’t leave until Valo comes to check on you.”

“I didn’t think there was any room left in here.” He glances at the curtain cutting this sliver of floor off.

“We made room. Do you require anything further before I check on the others?”

“...My leg kinda hurts.”

“Severe?”

“No, but enough to be annoying.”

“A mild pain reliever should do then. If that’s all then I’ll take my leave.”

He sighs when he’s alone, feeling stupid for letting himself get in this position and ignoring how he felt in the jungle. What is he to Kaidan if he can’t even use his biotics properly?

With nothing else to do and no updates from Kaidan yet, he focuses on the quarian at the ruins. Where’d they come from? Did they pick up the distress beacon like Zippy did? Cal still can’t be sure what the item in their arms was. More fucking mystery for a mission shrouded in fucking mystery.

When Valo finally appears through the curtain, he makes a clicking sound Cal can easily decipher.

“Too much biotics.”

“I know,” he groans, remembering when Kaidan told him to be careful on Yarn. “But I’d rather overexert myself than, y’know, die.”

“I’d be more inclined to agree if you weren’t non-married to one of the strongest human biotics alive.”

“Heh. How are the other patients? A bit quiet in here.”

“Most of them needed to be sedated. My VI is monitoring them while I take your IV out, then you’re free to go.”

“Are you telling Kaidan?”

“As the spectre in charge, it’s required. He’ll be informed after his work on the colony is concluded.”

“Hmph. Oh, do you have a minute?”

“Yes.”

“What do you know about quarian biotics? Do...they even exist? We ran into a quarian in the ruins outside of town, they attacked and got away. But their biotics were strong. Kaidan suspects it’s like krogan biotics--strong but rare.”

Valo taps the spot on his helmet where Cal assumes a chin is. “They do exist, yes. But they are indeed _extremely_ rare. I can think of a few unlikely but theoretically possible scenarios where a quarian could develop biotic potential.”

“Have you ever met any?”

“Not personally but Ketor’s cousin’s grandmother knew a woman who chose to live away from the Fleet because of her abilities. It was kept rather quiet among the ships. Everyone knows about biotics but one of our own? I think she believed people would hold prejudices.”

“They do with humans.”

He nods. “They do. It’s improved with you and Alenko but-”

“But it only took us saving the entire galaxy for it to happen,” he mutters.

“It’s unfortunate it’s taken such extreme measures.”

“Do quarians keep record of any biotics? Like do you have medical records?”

“I can look but I don’t believe we’ll find anyone on the Fleet. You’re also friends with Admiral Tali’Zorah, yes? Perhaps she’ll have access to something I do not. Hold still a moment.”

Cal watches him remove the IV from his arm.

“There we go. Ketor mentioned you also needed a pain reliever for your leg.”

“Yeah, I had a lot of attacks to dodge. Guess my leg still doesn’t like that.”

“How does it feel?”

“Mostly fine. I just don’t want it to get worse in case I have to fight something again.”

“Let me or Ketor know if the pain does worsen. You’re free to go, just make sure you sip on juice for a bit to keep your blood sugar elevated.”

“Okay. Thanks.” He hurries out of the med-bay and asks Cassian for an update.

“Shell said the city’s cleared out and they’re searching the outskirts for the missing scouts. The Council’s people haven’t arrived yet.”

“There’s a few quiet outposts in the Terminus Systems but it’s going to be a while before they reach Yarn. We might make it back before them.”

He worries about Kaidan venturing where multiple people have gone missing but also knows he has more experience and skill than all of them combined. But if the leviathan descend out of nowhere like the reapers did-

Shepard pushes those thoughts away as best he can. There’s still work that needs to be done and he can’t get lost in his anxieties.

~~~~~

“It’s good to hear your voice,” Cal says before he can stop himself.

Kaidan makes a sound. “I haven’t been gone _that_ long, have I?”

“I guess not but that planet is one thunderstorm away from disintegrating completely. Oh, and those aliens and junk are worrisome too.”

“Speaking of aliens and junk, we...didn't recover a complete body.”

“Hm, don’t really like the way you emphasized complete. Or junk.”

“We found an arm. It’s under guard, I’m going to hand it off to the Council’s team.”

“Heh, ‘hand.’ Any other trouble? Cassian mentioned the scouts.”

“Scouts are dead--killed. We brought the bodies back. What’s left of the population is divided up to keep watch around the walls. Yarn’s a mess but Adril says it didn’t look much better before the attack. ‘No one’s wasting resources on colonies in the Terminus Systems.’ It’s why the capital’s the only city left, the population used to be tripled.”

“He’s right. We all know what gets prioritized.”

“The Citadel and mass relays. Well, the Presidium and important relays. And homeworlds. That...makes sense. It’s not right that so many people are still suffering but some places needed to be rebuilt first. I just wish they’d gone about it in a fairer way.”

“It’s easy to forget about the people still waiting. I don’t trust the powers in charge to just...not stop forgetting.”

“I know. We’ll be there to remind them, yeah? Are you guys close?”

“We’ll be at Yarn before the hour. Is it still raining?”

“It let up for a few minutes then started pouring again. Oh, just got a message. The others just reached the system, they’ll be here soon.”

“Real quick before you go--I kinda fainted and I’m only telling you because Valo said he was gonna.”

“...Kinda fainted.”

“Kinda. Someone...or someones...helped me to the med-bay. I guess, I don’t really remember. It was because-”

“Your biotics.”

“Yeah.” He shakes his bottle of juice. “I’m back to normal.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you to hold a barrier like that. I know that’s not your specialty.”

Cal bristles. “I’m not some weakling.”

“No, but you are still in the midst of a recovery and incredibly stubborn. That makes quite the combination. Do you actually feel fine now? What’d Valo do?”

“Stuck me with an IV for a little bit and now I’m drinking some juice.”

“Do you feel fine?”

He sighs.”

“Cal, you know why I’m asking. It’s not because I think you’re a child, but I know you and how you just brush every injury off. If we need to adapt our combat strategy then we’ll adapt. It’s what we’re good at, right?”

“Uh-huh. I do feel fine now. I felt off on Yarn but sometimes you just gotta push through it. I’ll just make sure to keep drinking juice before missions.”

“Glad you and the colonists are okay. Not sure they’ll have a home to return to but the most important thing right now is that they’re alive.”

“Right. They’ll...figure the rest out.”

“I should get going now to get ready for these people.”

“I’ll see you soon, bye.”

“Bye.”

The dock’s been cleared so their ship can actually land this time. Shepard puts his armor back on but doesn’t bring any crew members with him. They’re on stand by but hopefully not needed. He sees Shell first. “Shell!”

The vorcha hurries to him. “Alenko speaks to one spectre at town hall, Utok shows other around. I saw ship land so I waited for you.”

“Has there been anymore trouble?”

“No more aliens but wildlife is angry.”

“Not surprising with the recent commotion.”

He parts ways with Shell and heads for the town hall. People are already cleaning the mess up, barely paying him any attention besides a passing glance. Do they wish he wasn’t here? That’s how those people felt about Kaidan on Horizon. But Kaidan represented the Alliance in the Terminus Systems. Is that how these colonists view them now? Do they see them as saviors of the galaxy or just reminders of a brutal war?

Kaidan and a salarian speak in the building’s front lobby. He smiles a bit when he catches Cal’s eye.

“This is Spectre Rylem,” he introduces.

“Oh, I recognize you,” Shepard says. “We met during the war.”

He nods. “Good to see you well. We were just discussing setting up patrols around the city and sending more drones to tour the rest of the planet. Spectre Airen is here as well, ensuring the alien limb is properly secured. She’ll be the one bringing it to the Citadel while I remain on Yarn for some time.”

“These people need help rebuilding. Since you’re here...”

“We’ll help where we can and I’ll see what the Council can allocate. However, the aliens remain top priority. We don’t know the exact reason Yarn was chosen but it’d be foolish not to explore those ruins in depth. We brought the necessary equipment for an excavation. Alenko told me you ran into interference from a hostile quarian. That’s a troubling detail but nothing to be done about it for now.”

With the sky beginning to darken, exploration of the ruins will start tomorrow. Cal and Kaidan help clear out homes and direct those who need it to the shelter Rylem’s people set up. They return to the ship that night tired and worried about a second wave coming in the dark. But between two spectres and Shepard, their crews, and the remaining colonists, they should have no issues handling whatever arises.

“Unless the leviathan pounce,” Cal calls from the bathroom, accidentally spitting toothpaste everywhere.

“That’s unlikely.” Kaidan walks in and sighs. He grabs a towel and wipes off the mirror. “We need to start digging into Yarn and see what similarities it has to Janus.”

“The ruins.”

“But what about them?”

“Hopefully we find that out tomorrow. And then we can predict the next place they hit.”

“Somewhere in the Terminus Systems.”

“Just a little slice of galaxy to search.”

Cal wanders into the main room and collapses onto the bed. He’s ready for sleep but hears the console in their quarters beep with a loud notification. “Is that the fucking Council?” he groans.

“It’s somebody important,” Kaidan says, sitting at the desk. “It’s from the Alliance. An admiral’s on his way to survey Yarn. He wants to speak with me directly.”

“We don’t answer to them.”

“Technically not but I am still Alliance and they have a stake in this too.”

“Hmph. It doesn’t say who?”

“Nothing besides an admiral and male pronouns. Though I think it’s safe to say not Hackett.”

“Yeah, he would’ve told us.”

“Their estimated time of arrival...about twelve hours from now.”

“Fucking cool, that means we can actually get some sleep.” He wraps himself in the the blankets.

“Dare to dream.”

~~~~~

Shepard is the first one to see the Alliance ship land on the dock. He gets Kaidan and they go to greet whoever this admiral is. They watch a man in an elaborate Alliance uniform emerge and Cal distantly thinks he’s quite handsome--even with the stern look on his face as he regards the two of them.

“You must be the ad-” Kaidan begins.

“Admiral Morgan,” he interrupts.

Shepard’s eyes narrow. His handshake with Kaidan is brusque and he stares at Cal a moment before shaking his hand too.

“Spectre, Shepard. Good to meet you but let’s not waste any time. I’m here to see the destruction for myself.”

“Why? The Council already sent teams and we’re here,” Shepard says.

“You represent the Council. Since this all began with an Alliance crew, we wanted an admiral to come out.”

“‘We’? From what we hear, you seem to be the one making decisions.”

“Yes, as one of the admirals assigned to this case, that’s generally what I do.”

There’s a noticeable pause in the air.

“If you have something to say, Shepard--please, feel free.”

“You ordered Abbett to keep me in the dark about his orders.”

“I ordered him not to speak of every single detail because--to put it in the bluntest terms--you’re not good at keeping secrets.”

“Oh, I’m great at that but when the galaxy is falling apart around us and the people in charge want to pretend it’s not, that’s when I get _loud_.”

“And sometimes, delicate situations require a delicate hand. The public doesn’t need to know yet about aliens we know nothing about. That’s not protecting the galaxy, at this point it’s just stoking fear.”

“I’m pretty sure he knows a thing or two about protecting people and I don’t think arguing with the savior of the galaxy is productive to this mission,” Kaidan interjects.

“I don’t believe this to be an argument but you’re right, we should be focused on this colony.”

If it were up to Cal, he wouldn’t tell Morgan a goddamn thing. But it’s not up to him and the fact remains that he’s one of the admirals overlooking this case. Kaidan will cooperate. They walk around the colony, Kaidan discussing what happened yesterday.

“These aliens are very elusive,” Morgan comments.

“They come in, cause a whirlwind of destruction, and leave without a trace. No one’s even quite sure where their ship landed. They pick up their own corpses, we were lucky to retrieve the arm.”

“What’s your next move?”

“We’ll stay while these ruins are explored. We’ve also begun researching the history behind Yarn to see what connection it shares with Janus. The ruins are the obvious link but we should be thorough.”

“You’ve explored ruins on Janus?”

“Yeah,” Cal says. “Partially at least, the Council handled the rest. You’re familiar with the Dig Incident.”

“You say that like a statement.”

“Because it wasn’t a question.”

Morgan’s lips quirk into a small grin. “Why does that sound like an accusation?”

“We’re not accusing anyone of anything. But we do wonder why you also ordered Abbett not to search Janus. Seems a bit counterproductive to an investigation.”

“I don’t generally explain my orders but...since one of you is a spectre and you’re both heading this mission--yes, I am familiar with Janus’ tragic history. I ordered Abbett to stay near the campsite because with such hostile creatures, fighting at a base is safer than spreading your people thin and getting overwhelmed. Abbett’s a good man, a good general, but I know him and he’s a little too _heroic_. They sent out drones to search the planet instead, but you know that. The Council sent its own people to thoroughly search those underground corridors. While I don’t necessarily believe they care much about our murdered science team, they brought the numbers to conduct a proper search. We lost a lot of good soldiers in the war, we’re not at the strength we once were.” He pins Cal with a gaze. “Does that explanation suffice?”

“Sure,” he brushes off.

“Are you staying while the ruins are explored?” Kaidan asks.

“Yes. I’d like to see for myself.”

Preliminary scans have already begun but so far show nothing interesting. Rylem’s team searches the area, combing every bit of the site, but there really isn’t much left of these ‘ruins’ on the surface. Whatever once stood here is long gone. The mayor finds them later in the morning and tells them of a second location.

“I got in contact with an old friend, a former mayor near the north pole. Her residents complained that a nearby clearing was haunted. Nonsense of course but maybe it has something to do with this site.”

“We’ll check it out, thanks,” Kaidan says.

Shepard wants to roll his eyes but tries to conduct himself with some level of maturity.

“Cal.”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to take Utok and Shell to the site and explore?”

“Yeah,” he agrees quickly. He catches Morgan's gaze on him.

“Take Zippy with you to help.”

“Okay. Keep you updated. Bye!”

“Be careful,” Kaidan calls after him.

“As careful as I’ve always been!”

The disgruntled sound he makes is loud enough for Cal to hear and he laughs. He contacts Utok and Shell then calls Syed to their location.

“Don’t rush over there,” Cal tells the pilot as he sits down. “I’m not eager to come back.”

“Heh, I’m sure it’s just as boring at either place now that the aliens are gone,” Utok tells him.

“I don’t wanna be around that admiral,” he grunts. “Guy’s a prick and he won’t leave me and Kaidan alone. Did he talk to any of you?”

“Briefly,” Shell answers. “He has no interest in us.”

“Ugh, I hate that he’s so good looking. He doesn’t deserve it.”

When they’re close to the coordinates, Shepard stands to look out the front. The charred wreckage of a town stretches out before them and he can’t help but think of what happened here. Destruction is something he witnessed many times in the span of just a few months but thinking about the war never gets any easier. Still, he keeps an eye out to see if anyone inhabits the remnants. Adril’s mentioned the remaining population convened in the capital but it’s difficult to believe there aren’t a few lone weirdos roaming this side of the planet.

“So this is the haunted clearing?” Utok asks, jumping out of the shuttle before it finishes landing.

“Yeah. Think we’ll find ghosts flying around?” he laughs. He looks around but there’s not much to this place. Fallen trees, burned grass, a creek with murky water.

“I’ll give you a hundred credits to drink from that,” Utok dares Shepard.

“I will,” Shell says.

“Ha, no way. You could slurp up nuclear waste and be fine.”

Cal leaves them to their banter of ‘who can drink the most toxic substance’ and scans the area. His shotgun is with him and he has his biotics, but hopefully his lack of armor isn’t an issue. Now that they stand here, the air does feel more quiet and still.

“Zippy,” he murmurs. The VI flies to his side. “Scan the area.”

“Colder here?” Shell asks.

“Feels like it,” he confirms.

Utok’s laughter rumbles through the clearing. “Not afraid, are ya?”

“I’m from Mexico, I just don’t like being cold! This place looks boring.”

“Alenko’s probably got it worse.”

“True. At least I’m with cool people and not some dude with a giant stick up his ass.” He points at the others. “No one make a gay joke. I’m the only gay joke here.”

They pick around the area but nothing interesting crops up until Zippy announces, “I’m detecting an unknown substance beneath the surface.”

“How deep? How unknown?”

“Less than a meter down. Solid.”

“Anyone got a shovel?”

“I’ll do it,” Utok sighs. “Where at?”

Cal watches her dig into the ground with powerful hands. “Hope it’s not a bomb.”

“We’ll die but this planet will look exactly the same.”

The hole grows large in a short amount of time. Cal’s kind of amazed. She hefts her arm down again. He can tell when it connects with more than just soil. She grunts and shakes her arm. “Think we’ve found our unknown.”

Shepard continues to watch as she brushes more dirt out of the way and his eyes widen when something blacker than any natural material is revealed. “Zippy, scan this. Is this the same material as the doors on Janus?”

“Yes.”

The pieces they unearth are just fragments though, no entrance to secret tunnels this time. Even the smaller broken bits are heavy in Shepard’s hands.

“This stuff confirms this planet was important to these aliens. But how are we supposed to find other worlds? We can’t just scan every damn planet.”

“If they steal archaeologists, maybe they steal colonies,” Shell suggests.

“People are still missing here,” Utok adds. “They’re probably dead or eaten but they could’ve taken colonists when they were hauling their own bodies back.”

“If that’s what they’re doing, they haven’t exhibited a pattern. They didn’t take anyone on Janus. We don’t actually know if they stole Elijah or...what the fuck happened to him. It’s a start though. The problem with trying to search ‘odd occurrences’ is that the Reaper War happened. Nothing about the galaxy is normal anymore.”

“It’s a vague subject.”

He sends their findings to Kaidan ‘We found pieces of the black door stuff here but nothing else. If this planet belonged to them at one point, the tectonic activity destroyed any past structures. Or it just wasn’t that important to them.’

‘Could’ve been just an outpost. Rylem can send a small crew for a proper dig.’

‘Yeah, Utok had to dig a hole herself. We’ll check the area again but we’ll probably be back soon.’

“Want me to keep digging, Shepard?”

“Nah, that’s okay. Now that I think about it, I don’t want to accidentally uncover another artifact. Rather not be part of Dig Incident 2.0.”

“I wonder if it only affects humans.”

“Let’s try not to find that out. I probably should’ve thought of that earlier. My apologies for being a dumbass.”

“Very sincere.”

Cal grins at Shell’s sarcasm. “Let’s search the outskirts of the clearing. I hear absolutely nothing, which is odd, but after yesterday’s giant lizard we should be cautious.”

No birds or insect equivalents flit around but maybe that’s not so surprising when the area surrounding them is decimated. He thinks whoever believed this clearing was haunted is an idiot but right now, they are standing on a graveyard. Shepard hasn’t talked to Adril much about the war, it’s not a subject either of them wants to remember. He doesn’t know if a reaper actually hit here or if collectors did the work. The trees are much thinner here and it’s easy to peer at distant blackened land through them.

He just stands there and stares for a while, thinking of the war but the memories flashing by too quickly for him to focus on any moment in particular. Eventually he feels anxious and feels like he needs to message Kaidan to make sure things are okay over there.

“Alright, let’s pack it up!”

His voice sounds no different from usual. They secure what they found in the shuttle and take off. Shepard debates beginning research but decides to close his eyes and lean back against his seat instead. The urge to call Kaidan is strong but he doesn’t. He keeps telling himself things are fine, if aliens or something came back then they would be alerted. Syed stays quiet as he drives and Shell and Utok talk about the mission.

When they return to the city, Kaidan emerges from town hall to greet him. Utok laughs when Morgan is close behind.

“I’m starting to think maybe this was just a small outpost,” Kaidan sighs. “I wish everything regarding this didn’t have to be prefaced with a bunch of ‘maybe’s.”

“Yeah, I know. Is Rylem’s team gonna handle the fragments? We got some in the shuttle.”

“Yeah. I’ll tell her.”

“It’s getting hot out here.”

“It is. I talked to the Council briefly.”

“Did they have anything to add?”

“Their full report on Janus will be ready soon. And they’ve sent spectres to uncolonized garden worlds and water worlds for clues since we can’t be everywhere. The problem with that is there aren’t a lot of those types of planets just hanging around.”

“That sounds like it’d be a better thing. Not many places to hide.”

“They’re hiding somewhere though because no one’s found them yet.”

“Do you need me for anything else?”

“No, just the company.”

He jerks his head in Morgan’s direction, where he stands in the distance talking to one of his own crew. “How’s he been?”

“Not...that bad. I think he’s an asshole in regards to you but ignoring that glaring fact--he’s a bit of a hard ass but not nearly as bad as others we’ve dealt with.”

“Low bar.”

“I know you don’t like him.”

“He’s a cunt.”

“I know you wanna fuck him.”

Cal snorts. “Can Zippy read minds now?”

Kaidan starts laughing. “No, I just know you.”

He stares at Morgan. “How much longer is he here for?”

He shrugs. “Til we find something. Or...don’t.”

“You could kick him off site.”

“Technically I guess. But how would it look for me to do that to an admiral? The Alliance deserves to be here too.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh, it was a joke.”

“Is that annoyance I hear? Am I going to have to punish you later?”

Cal grins. “You’re in work mode right now, I know that’s all talk.”

“We’ll see.”

“I hope we do.”

Except Kaidan almost instantly finds something to get distracted by so Cal returns to the dock. His crew wanders around and he goes to the ship alone to begin his research. He hits the walls he knew he would. ‘Missing colony’ searches bring up results from the war and from the collectors, when he worked with Cerberus. Hours pass and he blinks when he checks the time. This is going nowhere, he’s read the last headline about ten times now because he keeps thinking about Cerberus.

What would the Illusive Man have done with the artifact? It’s not difficult to imagine him inflicting whatever’s wrong with the archaeologists on his rivals, on non-humans, on anyone he wanted to experiment on. At the very least, it could’ve served as a warning to anyone who wronged him. Or he could’ve found a way to control his victims after their minds were wiped.

His own mind drifts back to his work with them, waking up in the lab, meeting Jacob and Miranda, willingly handing the collector base off to the Illusive Man. And Horizon. Years later, thinking about that time still makes him sad. But it’s been years since he and Kaidan talked, listened, made up, moved on.

He sighs. He should call Miranda again and tell her everything that’s going on. He’s a bit surprised she doesn’t already know and isn’t calling him up. Tali too so he can discover more about quarian biotics. A quick message is sent to Kaidan. When he replies that it’s fine, he starts a call but it’s not to either of them. The others will have to wait just a little longer.

“Caaaaaal,” Wrex rumbles.

“Hey, Wrexie.”

“Something sounds wrong.”

“You don’t miss anything. You know Kaidan and I’ve been on a spectre mission with dead Alliance members.”

“Yeah. How’s that going?”

“Not...the greatest. This is the second place these mysterious aliens have hit and we still know nothing about them. But we think they’re related to the leviathan somehow.”

Wrex is silent a moment. “You think they’re finally making a move?”

“Yeah. It has to be.”

“They were never going to just disappear again.”

“No but the galaxy’s been so focused on recovery...they’ve been hiding a billion years, maybe we thought they’d hide a little while longer.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“There isn’t one right now. We’re on Yarn searching these ‘ruins,’ they contain the same weird metal we found on the first planet. We’re hoping to get an idea where they’ll hit next or what they’re after. Ugh, anyways, I called you to tell you what’s going on.”

“How’s the Council? Do you need a big strong krogan to pay them a visit?”

“Heh, nah. Not yet. They seem to believe us and they’re quietly moving pieces in place in case we have to fight. I don’t like the word ‘quiet’ when it comes to our potential annihilation but I guess I see their point. Some places are making as strong of a recovery as they can but ‘the galaxy is still in a very fragile state’ and all that. The Council itself is one bad argument away from turning on each other like hyenas.”

“Hmph. As long as they don’t stay quiet when we need action. There’s only so many messes you can clean up.”

“I...am cautiously optimistic. Not about this situation, but that they’ll step in when needed. Kaidan and I should group call everyone.”

“Are you taking applications for that new ship?”

“You applying?”

Wrex grunts. “Maybe, depending how this all goes. Bakara and I need to keep Tuchanka in one piece.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “I’d still like to have you here again.”

“If things start to go south, I’ll fight through any ugly alien to get to you.”

He nods. “Hey, don’t suppose Tuchanka has any weird unexplored ruins, does it?”

“If it did, they’ve been blown the fuck up since.”

“Those tunnels I ended up in that one time survived. We know their origins though.”

“If you want a repeat performance of that day, be my guest.”

He yawns. “I’m tired, dunno why. It’s not bed time on this planet yet.”

“Maybe you’re just tired of dealing with bullshit.”

He laughs. “Fuck if that ain’t the truth. At least I get to hide on the ship for a bit. Kaidan has to entertain the Alliance outside.”

“You’ve done your fair share of entertaining suits.”

“This one actively hid information from me. And he obviously doesn’t like me.”

“Lots of people don’t because they suck. But hiding stuff? That’s suspicious.”

“Basically, he said it’s because I’m a loudmouth.”

“I take that back then. He’s got a point.”

“Man, fuck you all.”

“So what are you doing on that ship?”

“Right now? Trying to research weirdness in the galaxy but all that pulls up is reaper stuff. And then I started thinking about Cerberus because the timeline of a bunch of their spies getting caught is just too coincidental. So...everything’s a mess at the moment.”

“That’s how these missions always start out but it doesn't last. All these pieces will start fitting together and you and Kaidan will save the day.”

“Just like that, yeah? These conflicts never seem to last long. Just feels like forever.” He brushes his hair away from his eyes. His omni-tool beeps.

“Message?”

“Yeah. From the Council. They’re sending their report on the tunnels we found on Janus.”

“I’ll let you go then.”

But Cal doesn’t want to let him go yet. “I miss you,” he says quietly, not quite meaning to say it aloud. It’s difficult not being surrounded by his friends every day, even when the trade off is not being in constant danger on the Normandy. Ryan flashes through his mind. He hears Wrex exhale.

“We’ve both been real busy.”

“I know,” he begins.

“But I’ll see what I can do next time you’re at the Citadel. You’re a bit far at the moment. We’ll see each other soon.”

A small smile appears on his face. “Promise?”

“I promise. Now you gotta go read the Council’s gibberish and I gotta go do strong krogan things.”

“Alright, bye.”

“Call me later. Bye.”

Cal sits alone in the room, staring at the ceiling and lost in thought. He blinks then brings up his email on the computer to read the report. Their search found no animals but the plant life extends far beyond that single room. The halls were long and wide, the aliens probably used some form of transportation. The only thing to decorate those tunnels were more old paintings.

Shepard looks through the pictures. Like the ones he and Kaidan found, they’re old, chipped, missing parts. Some are little more than streaks of paint, others are shapes resembling the leviathan. But the most interesting part is the final room containing the crumbling remains of a statue. It towers over the agents in the room and those weird orbs of light illuminate it. In this state, he can’t tell what it was supposed to be but if feels clear these aliens worshiped the leviathan. Or was it the reapers, like with the geth? What makes Janus so important?

He keeps reading, the Council has scientists carefully analyzing the statue to uncover its potential secrets without collapsing it further. They’ll send another report with any new information.

Cal logs off. Kaidan won’t have had an opportunity to read everything yet. He continues with his research alone, trying to keep the word ‘pointless’ from repeatedly invading his mind.


	11. Chapter 6.5

“This dig is not going how I hoped,” Eli groans. “I’m one of the youngest here but they’re all acting like teenage twats.”

“That’s how old people are,” Adam tells him. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’m really sorry I won’t be there for your graduation.”

“I told you it’s okay. I’ve never heard you apologize so much,” he laughs. But he knows how guilty Eli feels over missing it. The job he’s on now could lead to a lot of opportunity though, especially since Eli opted not to go to grad school. Adam’s had multiple graduations in his life, this one’s big in that he’s earned his master’s in a field he never quite believed would exist when he first started college but the ceremony itself isn’t a big deal. “We’ll just have to celebrate when you get back.”

Eli grins. “We’ll have a thorough celebration as soon as I wash all this fuckin’ dust off.”

“Welcome to our new lives.”

“It feels like it clings extra hard in this place. Our new tech specialist should arrive tomorrow.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“They told us her name but I haven’t worked with her before.”

“I still can’t believe the original one blew up.”

“He didn’t _blow up_. Something just blew up in his face.”

“Much better.”

“Eh, he’ll be fine, give or take an eyebrow. Or eye.” He yawns loudly.

“You’ve been awake for about twenty-five hours now, you should go to sleep.”

“Yeah. I guess I will. If for some reason I don’t get a chance to talk to you before Friday...I’m very proud of you. You’re such a hard worker and so brilliant in your field. I can hardly believe we’ve been married almost a year now, I’m excited for many more with you. I love you, Addy.”

“I love you too. We’re so close to exploring the galaxy together and I can’t wait.”

“Just a little bit longer.”

They say goodnight and Adam blows him a kiss before disconnecting. Eli stretches and leans back against his chair. He hates having to miss Adam’s graduation. He’s an excellent biologist, eager to learn more about alien biology, and receiving his degree for that is a big moment. But Eli couldn’t pass this up. This dig could be his chance to earn a permanent position with the Earth Archaeological Institute. And then Adam and Taylor can join him. It’s been their goal for a long time to explore the galaxy and help uncover the mysteries of ancient alien civilizations. The First Contact War was brief and scary but taught them that the galaxy looks like nothing they could’ve possibly predicted. He doesn’t know what their future with the turians looks like and many humans want nothing to do with the Council, but Eli and Adam have spent many nights discussing what the Citadel is like.

They might soon find out if Taylor’s parents do make the move there. It won’t be dangerous the way colony life is but they and Taylor’s siblings all worry about hate crimes against humans. Their parents insist it’ll be fine. Eli hopes they get to see it soon. Pictures and videos aren’t at all the same.

Someone else walks into the room, a person who doesn’t even greet him. He sneers at his back and is lucky that he got to speak alone with his husband for most of the conversation. That’s his cue to leave so he returns to his quarters, hoping his roommate has already started his nightly shift.

~~~~~

“Meet our new tech specialist, Natalia Hernandez. She’ll be with us the remainder of this dig. Anything you were doing with Wilson will be continued with her.”

Eli did have projects he was working on with Wilson but knows he’s going to have to wait his turn to meet Hernandez. The day continues, he researches other things and takes notes. That night, he finishes dinner quickly and goes outside to take a walk alone. Like always. This team hasn’t worked that well together and he’ll be glad when he’s back on Earth.

He stares at the darkening sky, at stars in different positions than he’s been used to his entire life. This isn’t his first time outside the solar system, he and Adam have traveled together and they’ve gone with Taylor to visit their parents. But he’s still not quite used to the thought of actually being off Earth and in an entirely different star system. This moon they’re on right now isn’t too far from Sol, astronomically speaking, but nobody can be sure what kind of dangers lurk on these planets. A small group constantly guards the main campsite.

“Don’t think we’ve met yet.”

He stops himself from jumping and turns around. Hernandez is walking up to the same outcrop. She takes a drag from a cigarette. “I’m Eli,” he introduces. “One of the archaeologists.” He still feels a little bit of pride at getting to say that.

“Natalia.”

“Yeah, I heard. Wilson’s replacement.”

“After his dumbass blew himself up. You’re a bit young compared to the others here.”

“Twenty-six.”

“You just outta grad school?”

“No, I didn’t go. I’ve been working out in the field for a few years now. My husband graduates in a couple days though, he’s getting his degree in xenobiology.”

“That’s a hot field right now, very new.” She stubs out her cigarette. “Were you doing anything with Wilson?”

“I had samples to analyze and then compare with the maps Ericks had. I’m pretty low-priority so I was going to see how busy you were tomorrow.”

“I’ve been swamped all afternoon but I kicked everyone out at dinner time..”

“This hasn’t been my favorite team to work with. I’m fairly certain my roommate is homophobic. It’s like boarding with my fucking parents.”

“Terrible teams are part of the job sometimes. But when you end up with people you work really well with? It’s a great dig. Come on, I was done for the evening but let’s get your stuff done.”

“Really? Uh, thanks.”

“Because you’re gay too.”

He laughs and follows her back to camp.

“What’s that accent?”

“Scottish. Where are you from?”

“Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta.”

She locks the door behind them in the lab. “These people will flock here with the light on, like moths. If it’s locked maybe they’ll catch a hint.”

Eli gathers his sample from storage for Natalia to begin scanning.

“Is this your first time outside the solar system?”

“No, Adam and I have gone a couple places and visited our friend’s parents on Eden Prime.”

“My ex-girlfriend had some cousins who were part of the first wave of Eden Prime colonists. We went a few times. For one of the first extrasolar colonies, it was...”

“Boring?” Eli supplies.

“Yeah,” she laughs. “Hey, Wafer?”

He watches a VI appear out of nowhere.

“Yes, Natalia?”

“I need you to scan the samples in this machine then run that data through the computer.”

“Can do! Estimated time until completion: 113 minutes, galactic standard time.”

“GST, huh?”

“Tensions are high right now but in a few years it’ll be more commonplace. An entire galactic community out there and we won’t become a part of it? Sure.”

“But switching to Galactic Standard Time? I think part of America still refuses to use the metric system.”

She grins. “We’re not American. Anyways, that’s about an hour and a half. Want a drink while we wait?”

“You have booze in here? Yeah, I’ll take a drink.”

“This way, I already see someone in the window. Lab’s closed!”

Eli looks and recognizes one of the people his roommate always hangs around. He follows Natalia around the corner into an alcove. She opens a small fridge that says ‘Do not open, sensitive materials’ and reveals alcohol and junk food.

“Are you hungry?”

“No thanks, I’ll just take a beer.” She cracks two bottles open and hands one off. He takes a long swig. “Have you been with the EAI long?”

“A little over a decade as a full-timer. I started volunteer work in college, but after graduation I stayed with my university and did some freelance jobs on the side. I made the switch here just before I turned thirty.”

“How come?”

“Steadier work and more time outdoors--it wasn’t a hard choice. My parents supported my decision but once the colonies were established, they suddenly changed their tune.”

“Why?”

“I think it was just worry. Our galaxy was--is--rapidly expanding and they were scared about what humanity would find. Even now, my mom’s still weird when I tell her about coming out here.”

“Is it just your mom still like that?”

“Ah, my dad died a few years after my ‘promotion.’”

“Oh,” Eli says quietly. “Sorry to hear that. Were you two...close?” That’s probably a stupid question but he thinks about how he’d feel if one of his parents died.

“There’s been ups and downs with both of them but yeah, I was close to him. He caught an infection after surgery, it was too much for his body to handle.”

“That’s difficult. Do you have siblings?”

“No. But my mom has a lot of family to rely on. Where are your parents right now?”

“Eh, still in Scotland I imagine. We haven’t talked since I got married.”

“Homophobes?”

“Massively so.”

“A happier subject--when did you get married? Adam, right?”

“Yes. July will be a year.” He can feel the smile on his lips. “Addy’s parents and sister accepted me into their fold pretty much immediately. We were at their house visiting and it started as a joke but by that night we were all looking at shuttles to Vegas. We called our friend Taylor, their family booked flights from Florida, and I...I ended up calling my parents.” He sighs. “It was stupid, I don’t know why I did. Ignoring the homophobia, they are not fun people who’d spontaneously go to Vegas. We fought and I haven’t spoken to them since. Well, not fought. They said nasty things to me and I hung up on them.” He shakes his head then downs the rest of his beer. “Sorry for unloading that. I don’t usually subject people I just met to it.”

“It’s alright. I don’t usually talk about mine either.”

Still, he feels uncomfortable revealing so much information about himself. He thought he was over it. His last words to his parents were calling them ignorant cunts but then a day later, he was marrying the love of his life surrounded by his _real_ family. He always keeps a photo from that day with him on jobs. It currently sits on the tiny nightstand by his bed. Eli remembers where he’s at and Natalia seems to as well.

“Another beer?”

“Yes,” he says quickly. He grapples for a topic to make himself feel less awkward. “Do you like rugby? No one here is interested but there was a big game a couple nights ago.”

“You mean the Mexico vs Australia one? To see who will face off against that asari team? I would’ve quit my job before I missed Mexico kicking Australia’s ass.”

“I’ve been rooting for them too. I’m still surprised the asari agreed to learn the sport. Have you seen them practice?”

“Absolutely. They’re good.”

“I can’t fucking wait for that match. Addy pretends he’s into it but he’s more into the party we’re gonna throw for it.”

“Not much of a fan himself, eh?”

“He doesn’t mind watching sometimes. And he watches the World Cup with me.” He laughs a bit. “I tried to get him to join a league with me in uni. It didn’t go so well. He said it was too complicated and dropped out.”

“Did you stick with it?”

“Yeah. He still came to games to cheer me on. We were dating by then.”

“How long have you been together?”

“September will be eight years. We met our second year of college.”

After a while, Wafer beeps. “Analysis complete.”

Eli stands quickly then remembers his manners. Natalia leads him to his samples.

“You can start looking at the results, I’ll grab the maps for you.”

He explains what his suspicions are and what he’s looking for. “A couple people and my roommate tell me it’s a waste of time but...”

“I enjoy the implication that your roommate isn’t people,” she laughs. “There’s always going to be people criticizing your work, your ideas. And sometimes it doesn’t lead anywhere but you just have to keep trying, your career will never go anywhere otherwise.”

He nods. “That’s why I’m pursuing this, I can feel something here.” He pulls up some reports on this area and gets lost in reading. When he asks Wafer a question and the VI responds, he realizes he hasn’t been paying attention to anything else around him. “Am I keeping you? I know only certain people are allowed in the lab without you here.”

“I’ve been playing a game so it’s fine. I’m an avid Skyforged player.”

“I bought that one at launch but still haven’t played it. My friend’s sister is practically pro.”

“I highly recommend it. It feels slow initially but as soon as you reach the first city, that changes.” She stands from her computer. “How’s your work going?”

“I...I think I found what I was looking for.” He goes through his findings with her, suddenly nervous that he’s miscalculated something or somehow only seeing what he wants to. He doesn’t realize how tense he is until Natalia says,

“I’m impressed. Not many people would’ve picked a detail like that up.”

“T-thank you.” Praise doesn’t usually fluster him but the job has felt lackluster and the team unenthusiastic. Maybe Wilson blowing himself up and Natalia replacing him was a great thing.

~~~~~

Adam finishes brushing his teeth as Eli hops out of the shower without turning the water off. He jumps in and Eli tells him to hurry up.

“It’s my own dinner, that means I can be late.”

“That’s exactly why we _can’t_ be late.”

The earlier romp was worth it but now they have to rush to make it on time. Now that Eli’s home from work and they’ve had a few days to spend privately, they’re having a huge dinner to celebrate Adam’s graduation.

As he gets dressed, he’s notified of a new message. He assumes it’s just his payment going through but sits to check his email anyways. It is from work but not the usual address. He reads it.

The moment he hears the shower stop, he calls, “Adam!”

His husband rushes out, towel wrapped around his waist and water dripping onto the hotel floor. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Work just messaged me. They offered me permanent employment with the Institute!”

Adam shouts in excitement and runs forward to wrap Eli in a hug. “Congratulations. I knew you’d get it after this job, I felt it!”

He laughs. “Thanks for having confidence in me.”

“Always.” He cups Eli’s face and kisses him softly before pulling back. “Oh, uh, sorry for getting your clothes wet. Heh. I’m just too excited.”

“We’re definitely going to be late now.”

“We already were.”

“The email said I’ve shown a lot of promise but that Tech Specialist Hernandez was particularly impressed with my findings. Apparently she wrote a glowing report about me...”

“The woman you made friends with? Who said hit her up next time we’re in Canada?”

“Yeah, that one. I know she’s been with them a long time but I didn’t realize she had that much influence.”

“Probably keeps it quiet so people don’t suck up or try to befriend her solely for that reason.”

“She’d see through that kind of bullshit but I guess easier not to deal with it at all.”

“Are you going to contact her?”

“Yes. Tomorrow. To thank her. I have to respond to this email too and tell them I accept. Fuck, I’m officially an archaeologist with the EAI.”

“I’m so fucking proud of you. I can’t wait to tell everyone tonight.”

“Wait, what? This is supposed to be your night.”

“But this is a huge deal.”

“We’ll tell them tomorrow, okay? Then we get to have two nights where everyone celebrates us.”

“Ohh, you know how much I hate keeping secrets. Fine though. But I’m messaging everyone first thing in the morning. Hmm, you should probably be the one to break the big news. But if you don’t tell them by noon-”

“I will send a group message to your family and our friends.” For a second, it hurts having to say ‘your’ family and not ‘our.’ The last time he spoke to his parents was almost a year ago. He’s thought about contacting them again but they made it abundantly clear they did not want anything to do with him or his ‘lifestyle’ If that’s always going to be the case, the feeling is returned. But he squashes all of those feelings down as quickly as he can.

“Are you vid calling Natalia? I wanna meet her.”

“I was going to just call but we can do vid.” Adam hugs him again tightly and Eli’s never felt more loved. The mixed feelings inside him quell for the moment.

“God, I’m so happy for you--for _us_.”

He wonders what he’s done to deserve such a supportive, loving partner. “Me too, Addy.”

They hug for a long moment, maybe too long considering they’re already late for dinner. But they deserve this quiet celebration between the two of them.


	12. Chapter 7

A week passes on Yarn. Enough is dug up on the planet to keep it interesting for those in charge but not enough to send them to a new destination. The crew’s been distracted from complete boredom by helping the capital rebuild. Shepard’s been researching. His desk is a mess of scattered notes that make sense to no one but him.

It took a couple days but they managed to get in contact with someone from the Earth Archaeological Institute. The president at the time was basically forced to sign an NDA about the situation on Janus because it was someone from the Alliance who sold them the tip about the planet. They never discovered the true identity and Kaidan and Cal still suspect it was a Cerberus plant. Their board then forced the president to resign and someone else now holds the position. They told them about the artifact, a red stone of some sort, and how Adam touching it somehow activated it. But they don’t know what happened to Coutts either.

The EAI hasn’t added much to their knowledge that they didn’t already possess.

But that conversation was days ago. Right now, most of the planet is asleep, including Kaidan. Their bodies are beginning to adjust to this cycle. Shepard’s awake though, scribbling notes but mostly trying to doodle the alien from memory now. After analyzing it on the Citadel, the Council told them that the same weird material from the doors was found within the alien’s arm. An interesting note, it must be what powers their strength.

Morgan finally left this afternoon, the Alliance seemingly satisfied with their progress so far. Cal wishes he saw whatever they do. A few artifacts, the remains of walls and ceilings--it’s not enough to him. He has a list of some potentially interesting locations but they can’t just spend their time bouncing from system to system in vague hope they find something.

“You’re still up?”

Cal looks over at the bed. “Did my lights wake you?”

“No. Come lay down with me.”

He shuts the computer down for the night and leaves his stuff splayed about. The lights go off and he throws his clothes on the floor before crawling next to Kaidan. Cal’s eyes close instantly when fingers brush up his back. They talk quietly for a while, soft murmurs and soft touches between them.

Shepard feels himself drifting off, in a state of half-consciousness. That’s when they both receive urgent incoming calls. Kaidan untangles himself from his boyfriend and jumps up. Cal closes his eyes harder and tries not to groan.

“Spectre Alenko speaking.”

“You and Shepard have just received coordinates we need you to investigate immediately,” Irissa urges.

“Who found what?”

“A salarian patrol intercepted a strange signal, they followed it and found those creatures attacking a laboratory. They escaped but the patrol is still trying to discover this lab’s owner and why the aliens have interest in it.”

She gives more details as Kaidan throws clothes on. By the time they hang up, Cal has contacted the mayor to inform him of their sudden departure and signaled the crew to return to the ship if they’re not already onboard.

“Is it possible they just stumbled across it?” Shepard asks, now wishing he would’ve gone to bed earlier.

“Very unlikely. That ship isn’t registered, no identifiers or anyone aboard, practically in the middle of nowhere. Even with heat sensors, space is way too big for that to just happen.”

“If the salarians are saying the consoles inside will be difficult to decrypt...”

“Then it’s true. But we’ll let them worry about that part. I need to talk to Cassian.”

They’re in the elevator when Cal gets the message that the entire crew is returned. “I’ll tell the rest of them what’s happening.”

People are already gathered by the map waiting for him before they need to get back to work. He steps to the map’s platform and glances at the blinking dot indicating their next destination.

“Glad everyone took the urgency of my message seriously. The Council just called, these mysterious aliens attacked some lab that’s buried among the Traverse, Terminus Systems, and geth space--former geth space. It’s not registered, just orbiting a planet in a system without a real name. So it’s up to us to find out how they found it and why.”

“Are the uglies still there?” Utok asks.

“No. The patrol drove them out and is now guarding the area until we arrive. We don’t know if the owner’s gonna attempt to take their lab back.”

It’ll take some time to travel the Terminus Systems and to the remote star the lab’s located at. He disperses the crew but stands at the map alone for a moment, thinking about the Normandy. It’s a familiar feeling coursing through him right now and maybe if he were a different person this would stir something inside him and make him want to come out of retirement. But he isn’t a different person. For all the regrets in his life, this isn’t one of them. He’s just surprised he managed this lifestyle as long as he did without another breakdown.

He gets a notification and rolls his eyes, thinking it’s something official. But then he sees that it’s not.

‘Cal, we know you’re very busy right now but call us when you can so we can hear for ourselves that you’re doing okay. Izzy’s home for a while, call anytime.”

Everett, Ryan’s dad. His mom is home from her latest Alliance mission. She retired before her son was even a teenager but reenlisted during the war and has stayed in since. Cal tried to pick them up when he was leaving Earth and actually managed to get a hold of them. But like Anderson, Isabel insisted on staying to fight. Everett, with no combat experience, stayed by his wife’s side.

Since there’s time, he wanders to the communications room. A nap can wait until after all this he supposes. Considering the areas they’re about to fly through, contact will soon be spotty. It only takes a couple rings for them to answer. They both smile when they see him but it’s Everett’s that always reminds him of Ryan. There isn’t a thing in the galaxy quite as beautiful as the sight of Ryan happy and laughing.

“Hey, guys,” he breathes.

“It’s good to see you,” Everett says.

“How are you doing?” Isabel asks. “How’s the mission?”

“It’s been pretty slow work. We haven’t pinned a real cause on these attacks yet, but we’re off to a remote area of the Terminus Systems right now. Some lab got attacked, a salarian patrol pinged their ship but couldn’t place a tracker. So,” he sighs, “we’re off to investigate and see what makes this ship so interesting.”

“Do you suspect anything? No clue who it belongs to?”

“Nothin’. Here’s hoping this lab gives us something. Anything. How are you two doing though? You just got back from your own stint, right?”

He talks to them longer than he realizes. She talks about her last mission, Everett describes a new building he’s designing. Now that Isabel’s home, they’re going to spend a month in Australia visiting her cousins and Everett’s youngest brother in New Zealand. He always found it strange how they each come from large families yet only had Ryan. It’s the same with Kaidan’s parents. But in their case, they were scared to have more children after her eezo exposure and not knowing what her and Kaidan’s futures held. He’s a bit sad when they finally have to hang up.

“Hey, Shepard?”

He blinks. Cassian’s voice over the intercom. “What’s up?”

“A couple engineers wanted to speak to you. Non-urgent so I told them to wait.”

“Alright, I’ll head over.”

There’s no time to get distracted. When it comes to Ryan, he can lose track of everything else. Whatever these engineers want, it’s not urgent so they probably didn’t blow anything up at least. And since it’s not Ketor or Biv, maybe they just want to chat and get to know him.

~~~~~

They dock to the salarian ship which is dock to the laboratory. There’s one more entrance on the other side where the aliens latched on but they leave it alone for now so they can examine it later. A captain greets them and walks them through.

“We caught some footage of the aliens, they were in full attack mode by the time we arrived,” he explains. “We have a few injuries and one critical condition. Most of the fighting was confined to the hallways.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. If your doctor needs any help, let us know. Valo’s happy to assist. Any idea what they were doing?” Kaidan asks.

“No. It seemed they were just destroying whatever they could get their hands on. If we could log into the lab’s network and see if there’s cameras, we could perhaps figure that out. They had time to destroy or complete their goal--if they had one. We don’t know if they’re even capable of those sorts of thought processes.”

“The colony we just came from--they cleaned up their own bodies, like they didn’t want us to have them or something. And someone has to drive their ship,” Cal points out.

“Could be someone else making the orders.”

They step into the laboratory. The decontamination arch is broken and they walk into sleek metal halls. Everything looks so shiny, he feels like he’ll slip if he walks on the floor. They briefly pause at the large gouges in the wall.

“Here’s the worst of the rooms. It looks like the main console is here. Broken but we were able to pull its memory and extract the files.”

The aliens hit the area hard and it’s strange seeing their destruction but not a speck of blood anywhere. There are splatters of liquid on the ground though. Shepard traces the main source back to shelves lined with bottles, containers, and shattered glass. Oddly shaped footsteps trample through various puddles.

He hopes this isn’t the base of some weird ass creepy ‘doctor.’ But besides medical equipment, wouldn’t there need to be specimens of some sort to experiment on? “Is that why they came?”

Kaidan looks up from a map. “What?”

“Did they have an alien here? Is that why they came? There’s no one else here, what else would this person be experimenting on?”

“Could be that. They could’ve followed them out here or placed a tracker on their ship.”

“Once we know what’s on these consoles, we’ll see.” He nods toward the map. “Any points of interest?”

“It’s blank. Er, no markers I mean. I thought this switch might activate it but it didn’t do anything. Or it’s broken.”

“That’s the switch to open the airlock,” he jokes.

They continue combing the lab over, Kaidan sees if Zippy can help with the encoded files with no luck.

“We can stay here until the Council’s squad arrives. In case the aliens come back...or the owner does,” the captain says.

“What about your critical condition?”

“They’re stable for now.”

“I wonder if they will try to come back. We haven’t technically found anything illegal.”

“Yet.”

“Not our focus though,” Shepard reminds the captain.

Given the location and anonymity, something shifty definitely happens here. But as long as there are no hostages inside this ship, it doesn’t matter too much. They continue poking around. If there are cameras, they’re hidden incredibly well. The fact they have actual files is great but that’s going to take time.

“We’ll have these files decoded as quickly as we can,” the captain promises. “We’re working closely with the Council now, we know how important this is.”

Kaidan tells Zippy to take footage of the entire lab and Shepard follows him around. They come across a small living area but it’s completely devoid of personality. “Zippy, can you scrub for DNA?”

“None found, Cal.”

“That...can’t be right.”

Definitely not an amateur running this place. He starts sifting through everything but he can’t find a thing. It’s like an abandoned apartment. Their next stop is the door used by the aliens. More gouges along the walls, bullet holes, some footprints from the disaster in the main lab. They finish their tour and return to the other side.

“We’ll sift through that footage later,” Kaidan says.

“Yeah.” Cal thinks about Edi. She would’ve analyzed it in no time and told a sarcastic joke to make him laugh too. He misses her.

“Can we talk to your crew?” Kaidan directs at the salarian.

“Yes, of course.”

They take some time asking everyone questions. Whatever the aliens’ business, they interrupted at the tail end. Their only goal was returning to their own ship and with the salarian one only being a simple patrol cruiser, they had to fight on foot. It sounds like the same destruction on Janus and Yarn. But it’s not a lost cause--at least, it doesn’t feel as hopeless as it has. They just need to wait for the computers. They return to the Luminosity, wondering where to go from here.

“There’s really no point in going back to Yarn, is there?” Cal asks.

“If we have nowhere else to wait. The Citadel’s too far, the next place we go will probably be in the Terminus Systems too. There’s always Omega.”

“Things I don’t expect you to say,” he laughs. “Yeah, that’s our best bet. Aria will probably get sick of me and launch me into Sahrabarik herself but...”

“You just have that star memorized, huh?”

“I was there quite a bit.”

“She’s gonna get sick of the person who saved Omega?”

“I have a gift for annoying people.”

“You enjoy purposely pushing buttons.”

He grins and doesn’t deny it.

They do decide on Omega for the time being. He calls Aria but she doesn’t answer so he leaves a message. “Your favorite person is coming for a visit and I’m bringing a spectre crew with me. Can’t wait!”

A couple minutes later, right as he and Kaidan discuss telling their friends about the entire situation, she calls back.

“Hello!”

“You can take that spectre crew of yours and keep flying.”

“Aw, you hurt my feelings.”

“Neither of us have feelings.”

“True but we’re between missions right now and need somewhere to crash.”

“You spectres are far from your Council.”

“How do you know Kaidan’s with me?”

“Cut it out.”

“Did I catch you in a bad mood?” Cal laughs.

“She’s always like this,” Kaidan mutters.

“How long are you staying?”

“I dunno, a few days maybe.”

“Just tell your crew to behave. My people are already going to be on edge with Shepard here.”

“I mean, I did save that rock from Cerberus’ clutches.”

“They’re not know for their brilliant memories or brains so don’t expect them to throw any parties upon your arrival.”

“I was kinda hoping you’d throw one. We could use a night of debauchery.”

“I’ll take a look at my schedule. Find me later.”

“That was a pleasure as always,” Kaidan huffs when he hangs up.

“Eh, she doesn’t mean half of what she says to me. She won’t care if we’re there, I just hope she does throw me a fucking party.”

“I’m not sure I’d trust whoever she invites.”

“It’ll be fine. I know how it seems, but she doesn’t actually want me dead or anything.”

But he does warn the crew not to cause trouble while they’re there. He truly considers Aria his friend but that’s not going to stop a gang member from retaliating if they feel threatened.

~~~~~

Cal actually does get his party--a small gathering with lots of food and lots of alcohol. He’s pretty sure everyone else is a bit nervous to consume anything but once he and Aria start to, they get into it quickly.

If there’s one thing this crew knows how to do, it’s let loose. He drinks with Kaidan and does shots with Asher but for the first time in his life, Cal finds himself scared to go up against Utok or Shell.

“They’re professionals, I wouldn’t risk your reputation,” Cassian half-jokes and half-warns.

“I hate backing away from a challenge but...” He watches the pair for a few moments. Shell’s cheering as Utok guzzles an entire bottle of tequila. “Those two seem pretty inseparable.”

“Yeah, they’ve been like that since we all met. They fought side-by-side in the war and they both know what it feels like to have a whole galaxy look down on your race. They’re always watching each other’s backs.”

“Do any other spectre crews have vorcha?”

“Shell’s the only one. Utok, one of two krogan.”

“Could be doing a lot better on that front. But that’s always been true.”

“They could be. A lot of krogan and vorcha probably resent the Council, but plenty I’m sure would accept the position if just given the chance.”

It’s silent between them for a minute before Cassian laughs and says, “My partner always chastises me for being too glum at parties.”

“You have a partner?” Cal’s genuinely surprised to only just now be finding that out. Maybe he needs to be working harder on getting to know his crew.

“Oh, er, yeah. This is another thing, people call me an enigma but I’m just awkward and never know how to casually bring things up. Anyways, Nuna and I’ve been together for five years now. Met on the colony, both got offered jobs after the war, so we packed up and moved to the Citadel.”

“That must’ve been a big adjustment.”

“It was. The hardest part is not seeing each other every day. Colony life was very different.”

“What job were they offered?”

“They’re an engineer so they’re pretty busy these days.”

Large hands suddenly clasp on each of their shoulders. “Why are you two hiding over here?” Utok rumbles. “Embarrassed I’m gonna drink you under the table? Don’t worry, Valo wants to play some quarian game.”

They let themselves be dragged off and Cal’s highly curious what this drinking game consists of. He’s willing to play anything at least once.

The night continues for a long time, into the early hours of what could technically be morning. It ends for Cal and Kaidan similarly to how it did on the Silversun Strip years ago. A lot has changed since then but as tipsy familiar hands grab at clothes then at bare skin, Cal’s glad this hasn’t.

~~~~~

“We have another location for you two investigate,” Irissa informs them. “Some of the files extracted from the laboratory list coordinates for a second facility. There’s also notes about a captive alien, which we deduced to be of the race you’re hunting. Of course, there was no alien to be found so the lab’s owner either took it with them or the aliens freed it during their attack.”

“Can you send the files?” Kaidan asks.

“Yes. What we still can’t access is the security footage. We have our own surveillance set up now but we don’t know what the initial attack looked like.”

“We might not need to,” Shepard says.

“We’ll leave now. Is it in the Terminus Systems?”

“Yes. We worry how the gangs will react to all this activity in their territories but that can’t be the first of our priorities right now. Still, be careful over there.”

The call ends and they waste no time recalling the crew to the ship. Cal sighs and packs their bag so they can leave the hotel. He messages Aria on the way out since they’re supposed to hang out later then impatiently waits for the last of the crew to trickle in before they take off. The trip to the location will at least give them time to read through things. After answering a bunch of questions, Cal retreats to their quarters.

The notes are in galactic standard time but the original copies are written in Quarian. One of the last dates is close to the attack on Yarn. Cal checks, the timing works out. Of course that quarian was up to no good, why else would they attack him and Kaidan? But whatever they held in their arms, it definitely wasn’t a whole ass alien. He knows that much. By the time the two of them confronted them, it must’ve been loaded onto the ship.

The notes continue on about keeping it unconscious upon arriving at the lab, hooking it up to machines and monitors, but being nervous regarding its unknown anatomy.

‘Laproscopy is a potential option but these aliens could be ancient and unlike anything the galaxy’s encountered so that makes me uneasy. I can’t accidentally kill it and squander this opportunity. Will just use It and see the results. Exploratory surgery after, perhaps.’

Shepard’s eyes scan the last couple lines over and over. It? It is obviously something the quarian doesn’t want to risk anyone knowing about. An illegal drug? Stolen medical supplies? Despite the destruction, that lab clearly held multitudes of expensive equipment that had to come from somewhere.

‘It woke up.

It woke up yelling and hissing at me. It swung its claws then lunged. I’m lucky to be alive I think. Situation is back under control, alien is back in a state of unconsciousness. I’ll monitor things for another day to ensure its stability then I’m going home for a bit. I need a break.’

Whatever sketchy drug they used made the alien freak out. He wonders what it was. Maybe something that’s mild for most other races, except this one. Or maybe this cunt’s just crazy and using any substance they can get their hands on. He delves deeper and finds more vague experiments. That’s the only thing he can think to call them. Never any names, just age and vitals and an identification number. He can’t even be sure what race these people are.

Through all of it, he can’t be sure what the purpose is. It’s possible the quarian’s just disturbed but that seems totally wrong. Why have everything organized like this then? Why risk their life on Yarn? No, this is too much for just some deranged ‘fun.’ He’s ready to call ‘it’ a drug, that much seems obvious at least.

And then he reads an entry dated five years ago.

‘Used It on Subject 37Nc. Memory wiped, subject unresponsive--as expected. Brain waves never match previous patients, going to find a new stimulant to try.’

One day later: ‘Update. Subject 37Nc died. Injected with 100mg of Bentraphetamine, went into cardiac arrest fifteen minutes later.’

Shoving random drugs into people is alarming but the first part...

He sits back in the chair. Is this where the artifact went? Is this what _it_ actually is? Who is this person and how the fuck did they end up with the stone? The writing style is sterile, as devoid of personality as the lab’s living quarters, but there are enough brief mentions of what sounds like the Flotilla to make him think they could really be a quarian. Or is it someone from Cerberus just putting on an act?

“Kaidan,” he calls on his omni-tool. “Come to our room.”

“Did you find something in the notes?”

“Yeah. It’s big.”

“I’m coming. I was just on my way.” He’s hurrying inside their quarters just a couple minutes later. “What is it?”

“I think this person has the artifact.”

“Uhh-”

“Here, look at this part.”

“Fuck. What else do we know that causes those symptoms?”

“Nothing.”

“What’s the date?”

“February 2185. So it’s been a while.”

“Any idea who this is?”

“None. It’s written in Quarian but that could’ve been run through a translator. It’s mostly notes on ‘patients’ but a few mentions of the Fleet. Could be acting too.”

“If it’s from 2185, that’s when Cerberus was particularly active. It’s a big coincidence.”

“It is. Miranda knows nothing about this artifact but the Illusive Man could’ve not told her because she’d be busy...fixing me...at that time. But why keep at it? To what end?”

“They could want to pick up where the Illusive Man left off. Well, not the reaper stuff...the racist anti-alien part.”

“This second facility either has answers or an ambush.”

“Maybe we’re in for a treat and it’ll be both.”

Cal feels a hand rest on his shoulder before lightly squeezing it. He tilts his head back a little and closes his eyes when Kaidan’s other hand brushes through his hair.

Shepard fully expects an ambush to wait at this next location. This person must know by now what’s happened to their lab and that the notes contain these coordinates. They’ve had some time to prepare. They should bring extra people with them.

When they’re close to the station, they suit up in full gear. Kaidan has Shell and Utok accompanying them. The entrance to the shuttle is dark. The power’s been cut for the lights but oxygen is still being recycled. This place looks a little different from the first one and not just because of the lack of destruction. The hallways are spotless, they’re larger too. This shuttle feels...almost more professional.

“Hey, this looks like the fuse. You think you can reboot the power?” Shepard asks his boyfriend.

“Lemme try.”

It takes a minute of him doing stuff on his omni-tool but then the hall flickers with light.

“There we go. We’re here, bitches.”

One of the first rooms they pass is a storage room. Everything is organized by equipment, replacement parts, medications. Cal can’t even read half the labels.

“Do you think this is run by just one person?”

“This is a lot for just one to do all by themselves,” Kaidan answers, taking pictures of some of the bottles. “There’s nothing indicating a single person in the notes.”

Outside the room, the hallway splits in two. “Do you want me and Shell to take one of these?” Utok asks.

“Yeah. You two go that way and we’ll see where we meet up.” He leads Shepard down the left path. “It was a bit unclear what they were transferring here. Is this just supposed to be another lab?”

Cal doesn’t answer, knowing by the tone that Kaidan’s mostly talking to himself right now. “Hey, let’s check these consoles out.”

Kaidan turns one on and takes a look. “There’s nothing on it.” He checks the other then shakes his head. “They must’ve come and wiped the drives.”

“No ambush then? Could be they just wrote this place off.”

Tall double doors mark the end of the hallway. It’s locked but hacking it open is surprisingly easy work. The door slides open and both men freeze.

This final room is bigger than either of them expect and it’s easy to see why so much space is needed. Multiple tanks stand in a circle at the center of the room and Shepard’s reminded of how he found Grunt, except these tanks hold humans.

“Are...they alive?” Kaidan asks quietly, as if anyone else is around to overhear.

Cal starts walking towards the middle so he can scan them. They appear normal, just unconscious. They don’t look like some crazy doctor spliced them together. “They’re alive,” he confirms. He’s seen a lot of horrid stuff in his life, he doesn’t understand why this set up unnerves him.

“These computers are cleared too. Doctors will have to test their DNA to identify them.”

Cal didn’t realize Kaidan had moved behind him. “Think they’re volunteers?”

Kaidan frowns at the nearest person floating in whatever this solution is. “No. But I can’t put brainwashing past Cerberus.”

“They could’ve just killed them. When they shut the power down, they could’ve cut it all. They didn’t seem too broken up over 37Nc’s death.”

Another door opens and they immediately get ready to fight. But once Utok and Shell come into view, they relax. They also look taken aback when they see the circle of tanks.

“Did you find anything? Anyone?” Shepard questions.

“Deserted,” Shell tells him. “More rooms, more equipment. Long halls.”

“I’m calling the Council,” Kaidan announces.

“Didn’t they message you about sending back up behind us?”

“Yeah, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long. The Alliance will definitely be interested in this too.”

“Who’re you calling? Hackett?”

“I was gonna contact Morgan, Hackett’s not officially on this case.”

Cal makes a noise but Kaidan’s already focused on the call. He wanders off to explore the full length of this room.

“The Council’s people should arrive in a couple hours. The Alliance is communicating with our Councilor.”

The next two hours pass and another spectre team is docking. They’re carefully transporting the tanks to the Citadel so these people can receive medical care and proper identification. More soldiers will stay with the shuttle while experts attempt to restore the computers.

Kaidan and Cal remain on site while everyone gets set up then decide to return to the Citadel.

“I know it hasn’t been that long but it feels like forever since we were home.”

“It does,” Kaidan agrees.

On the flight home, they compile all the notes from the first facility that have been decoded so far. The first files date back to 2180. It mentions a lot of medical junk that Cal doesn’t completely understand. It looks like the same pattern. Use ‘it,’ use drugs, analyze brainwaves. Sometimes the patients die. Other facilities are occasionally mentioned but never any direct locations. There are no names or indications if this is a single-person operation or if multiple ex-Cerberus members are part of it--if they’re Cerberus or human at all.

“Most of these identifiers lack a pattern on the surface but Subject 1A is probably the first,” Kaidan mutters.

“Yeah. If they died, it doesn’t say. One of those techy motherfuckers is bound to find something in this second facility. They got more than two labs, they all gotta be linked.”

“And the purpose?”

He shrugs. “Unlock the artifact’s potential.”

“Cerberus could’ve kidnapped Eli then. It’d be easier for them to stage Adam’s death as a suicide than it’d be for the leviathan. Though they’re still an issue.” Kaidan sighs. “I hope these people will be okay. But they might be like the other three.”

“This could renew research efforts into their condition.” But even as he says that, Shepard doesn't have much hope. The only thing they can do is search for these operatives and get the artifact before they cause anymore damage. “They know we’re on their trail now.”

They gave up on this facility but what if they try to use the artifact against _them_ next time? It’s a scary thought. But he was able to resist leviathan control and Kaidan’s strong-willed. Adam, for whatever reasons, remained unaffected. He has to think they’ll be okay too.

~~~~~

The first few steps on the docks feel good. The crowds of strangers in the Presidium are more familiar than any place in the Terminus Systems. Cal and Kaidan go home for the day. Cal showers in their own bathroom and changes into clothes more comfortable. When he walks back into the living room, Kaidan’s on the phone.

“Who’s that?”

“Morgan,” he silently mouths.

Cal rolls his eyes and waits impatiently for him to finish. “Did he call?”

“Yeah. He’s on his way to the hospital. Irissa and Ramirez too.”

“Whole gang’s coming.”

“Are you?”

“Nah. They got here before us but I doubt those people are out of their tanks yet. I’ll go tomorrow.”

“Alright, I’m gonna head there now. I should be back soon. Hopefully.”

“See ya. Lemme know if you want me around for anything.”

He grabs a snack and a beer and sits down for five minutes before he’s bored. He has people he can call too, many people they still _need_ to call...

“Hey, Shep.”

“Yo,” he greets Miranda. “You still on the Citadel?”

“Just arrived on Earth for a couple weeks actually.”

“Work?”

“Not entirely. I’m spending the first week with Ori and then work. What about you and Kaidan? How’s the mission?”

“We’re back home for another minute, so that’s nice. And we have made some progress. We know who has that artifact. Well. We don’t know for sure, or who they actually are, or if there’s more than one person, or where to find them. But I mean, other than that, we know.”

“Your detective skills are as sharp as ever I see,” she laughs.

“Always. We are leaning towards these people being former Cerberus though. They’ve had this thing for years. If the Illusive Man didn’t tell you, it’s probably because he wanted you focused on necromancing my body back to life. Still don’t know where the aliens will hit next though.” He shakes his head. “I feel so stupid. Kay and I keep meaning to contact the old crew, tell them what’s happening and get ready but...get ready for what? We have no proof of anything, we’re missing big pieces of this puzzle.”

“But you know something is out there. The leviathan are still out there. Clues don’t magically fall into your lap, it takes time to figure things out. We both know that well.”

“Yeah...”

“And even you aren’t perfect.”

“Okay, now I’m calling bullshit,” he says and finally grins.

They talk some more about Cerberus and if she has any idea who these people could be. The call eventually ends with him promising to update her with anything new.

Maybe he’s hesitating to call everyone because the last time they got together for a mission...it was the war. If he recalls the old crew, is that accepting what this is going to spiral into? Cal’s not ready for another Reaper War--a Leviathan War. He can’t handle that and it’s such a terrifying though. If he and Kaidan don’t call, they can still bounce around the Terminus Systems and save random colonies and have fun with this new crew and pretend this isn’t going to be a gigantic mess.

He closes his eyes. They know nothing for sure yet. He can’t let himself jump to an end he doesn’t know about. This is what he and his psychiatrist worked on during his recovery-- _assuming_ his injuries would never heal, _assuming_ Kaidan would inevitably leave him, _assuming_ suicide was better than any potential future he could have.

Cal scratches at the back of his neck and glances around the apartment. Maybe he should’ve gone with Kaidan after all.


	13. Chapter 7.5

Eli receives notification of the last shuttle arriving for this job and grabs a datapad off the table. These are three college students from various parts of the world. One of his jobs as site administrator doesn’t technically include showing them around directly but he wants to introduce himself to them personally. This isn’t anyone’s first dig but it is their first one off Earth.

“Have fun babysitting!” Natalia says, taking a drag off her cigarette.

“I think he actually does like it,” Adam adds.

He doesn’t deny it. “I’ll see you two at dinner.”

As he passes the garage, he sees where Taylor wondered off to. They’re moving their hands excitedly and even from here, he can hear them talking to a nearby volus. There’s a team of volus and humans working together. Now that humanity has an embassy at the Citadel, they’re trying to get more involved in galactic affairs. Eli’s happier than he can say that their little group was chosen to be part of this project. They’re getting recognized at the EAI as an efficient team.

The students approach. “Hi, welcome. I know it’s been a long flight so I’ll keep this brief. I’m Eli, the site admin of this dig. This is your first extrasolar dig and that’s no small thing. We’re working with a team of volus from Irune. It’s a good opportunity to show that humans can work well with everyone else. If you have any issues or questions, you can find me but you’ll be taking tasks directly from Taylor Green. They’ll introduce themselves once they’re settled in. They’re, uh, preoccupied right now.” He likes meeting people on site but hates giving talks like this. He looks down at the list in his hand. “So who’s who?”

“I’m Amir.”

“Sarah.”

“Julia.”

He nods. “Head through the double doors behind me and be ready to start working tomorrow morning at 6am GST.” He does love telling new people the times they start at though. Every planet is different so times vary wildly between very early and very late. This particular place’s afternoon coincides with galactic standard time and it’s too hot to work straight through the day.

He blinks and realizes one of the students has stayed behind. “Oh, hi. Did you need something?”

“Yeah. I know my name doesn’t match what’s on that datapad. I haven’t had a chance to change it yet, but my name is Julia Heng. Only Julia.”

He nods. “I can fix it in here actually so no one messes it up. There we go.”

“Thanks.”

He watches her walk off a moment before hands clasp on his shoulders.

“I just met the coolest volus.”

“Why are you whispering that into my ear in that tone?” Eli laughs.

“Maybe I’m smitten,” Taylor says as he turns to face them.

“With me or the volus? You can tell me about them later, you have your new students to greet.”

“Ah, they’re finally here? I can’t wait to boss them around for two whole weeks!”

~~~~~

The dig goes relatively smoothly. They’re getting along with the volus, even though some people are scared of the two with biotics. Every time someone asks ‘What if they’re reading our minds?’, Eli calls them out. He’d call them stupid, but that’s not professional. If biotics did give them psychic abilities, that’d be common knowledge in the galaxy.

Eli sits with his husband and friends in the cafeteria at dinner. They have tomorrow off then the day after that is their final day of work. They have a hike planned, a spot Taylor’s new friend told them about. It’s supposed to be their own little celebration for the end of this job, for accomplishing what they’ve wanted to do since college and bringing a friend like Natalia along too. But mostly, they just want to let loose and fuck around.

“Oh, Julia!” Taylor calls, waving as if she can’t tell where they’re yelling from. “Come sit with us, girl!”

She smiles a bit and heads for them.

“I know I’m not supposed to have favorites,” they whisper loudly as she sits, “but she’s been my favorite.”

“Heh, it’s not just because I’m trans, is it?”

“Ha! It is nice to have someone else here but no. Not entirely. She’s an awesome geologist.”

“Almost. I’ll be one after next semester.”

“Close enough, you certainly work harder than the ones here.”

“Are you gonna try getting a job with the EAI next year?” Adam asks.

“I’ll apply, yes. I doubt I’ll get in but my university has programs to help grads out. I’ve been volunteering on digs since high school so I have experience, I’m hoping that’ll help.”

“It will,” Natalia assures.

“Oh, by the way,” Taylor says. “The four of us are going on a hike tomorrow and we wanted to know if you wanna come. Apparently, there’s this neat little lake nearby.”

“Yeah, sure. What time?”

“We’re leaving at eight.”

“That’s the plan anyways,” Eli huffs. “Adam will probably be late.”

“Bitch, you better not be.”

“Don’t bully me! And hey, wasn’t your volus friend coming too?”

“Yeah, but he has some last minute work that came up. But we are going to hang out next week because we’ll both be at the Citadel.”

“Wouldn’t a hike be potentially dangerous for them? I’m sure it’s different on their homeworld but...” Julia asks. “There’s a lot of physical work here but we have equipment to help.”

“Those suits are built to endure a lot. He says he’s used to it but I don’t think I could ever visit Irune. Feels claustrophobic and I’d be too worried the whole time about my suit malfunctioning.”

They talk a bit longer, about the colony, about their plans after this dig, before Eli checks the time. “Oh, damn. Natalia, we gotta go.”

“We’ll catch you later,” Adam says, kissing his husband’s cheek. “Do you happen to like rugby, Julia?”

“Not particularly, to be honest. Sports have never been my thing.”

“Ah, well, you’re free to hang out with me and Taylor then. Those two have a game to go watch.”

She does opt to hang out with them. Doran comes by for a little bit to say hello too.

~~~~~

“Doran wasn’t kidding about this area,” Eli mutters as they stare out at the lake.

“Do the colors feel more intense than Earth?” Adam wonders. “Or am I hallucinating?”

“I wish we would’ve come out here sooner,” Taylor says then points at a small path leading down the overlook.

They find a clear spot to settle at near the water. People are at the beach in the far distance and scattered about the lake, but this slice feels like their own private place. Eli kneels down and sticks his hand in. It’s cool against his skin.

“This is the bluest water I’ve ever seen.”

Adam is beside him.

“I think this is one of my favorite digs.”

“Mine too,” Eli says softly, watching Adam now swirl his hand in the lake too. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Eli forgets where he is when Adam cups his face (with his dry hand) and kisses him.

He’s abruptly reminded a few seconds later though when Taylor whistles and Natalia yells, “Gay!”

They pull back with a small laugh. “Alright, moment over. Where’s my wine cooler?” Adam demands.

“Wait, did you really pack wine coolers?” Julia asks.

“Taylor’s obsessed with them.”

“I wanted to pack something that’s appropriate to drink in the morning!”

“Does time really matter away from Earth?”

“Shh, drink your strawberry.”

Once they all have a drink in hand, Eli says, “Julia, I wanted to mention--we’re glad to have you along, not just on this hike but on the entire dig. We talked about it, we could use someone with your skills and geology knowledge on our team. We’ve all been with the EAI for some years now and they recognize our abilities together so, with your permission, we’re all going to recommend you for hire when you graduate.”

“I...you’re serious.”

“Yes. We can discuss the details of how it’ll work over the next semester but you have a bright future ahead of you--that much is clear.”

“I would love that. _Thank you_.”

“Woot, woot!” Taylor cheers, holding their bottle in the air. Glass bottles clink together and they spend the rest of the day enjoying the lake.


End file.
